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To Aid in Lowering the Cost of Living 



WILBUR CARRIER 



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BY WILBUR CARRIER 

'i 

Copyright, 1913. 
Copyright, 1914, by Wilbur Carrier. 

International Cop5Tights Secured 



All rights reserved in all countries except that the 
songs may be sung when not sung for profit. 

Right of recitation and playwright are specifically 
reserved. 

PUBLISHED BY 

WILBUR CARRIER 

Room 706, Title and Trust Building, Chicago, U. S. A. 



Twenty-five cents per copy by mail — no stamps ac- 
cepted — send money order, or wrap coin on all sides 
in a piece of newspaper and then wrap in heavy paper 
( preferably thin pasteboard) of the length of the letter. 

Thirty cents per copy with music for four songs. 
Price of Notes from Drama (separately bound) is 10 
cents per copy. 



\ 






SEP -41 9 !4 



iCi.D 19551 



Jt^^" It is hoped that this book will induce you to use 
your influence in favor of government regulation of 
the prices of the interstate trusts, the local trusts, the 
wholesale merchants, and the retail merchants. 

Those who lower the cost of living by lowering 
exorbitant retail prices will win the favor of the plain 
people. 



Act I. — The Dutchman and the Demon and the Darl- 
ing of the Gods. 

Act II. — The Woman and the Lawyer and the Darling 
of the Gods. 

Act III. — The Doctor and the Lawyer and the Darling 
of the Gods. 

Act IV.— The Bible Class. 

Act v.— The People's Goat. 



Heading for the programs that are to be distributed 
to the audience: 

Act I is a Farce. The conclusion of the Farce illus- 
trates figuratively the present condition of the public. 

Acts II and III form a Comedy. The conclusion of 
the Comedy illustrates figuratively the hoped-for condi- 
tion of the public. 

Acts IV and V form a Social Problem Play, for which 
the Farce and the Comedy are an introduction and a 
preparation. 

At first the devil and -afterwards the devil-lawyer is 
the evil genius of the play. In the play as a whole, the 
devil represents the evil, grafting spirit that animates the 
trusts and all those zvho bleed the public. In the farce 
and the comedy, the Dutchman represents the public. 
In the Social Problem Play, the clerk and his family are 
representatives of the public. The goat is the people's 
goat. 



ACT I.— A FARCE. 

the; DUTCHMAN AND THE DEMON AND THE DARLING OF 
THE GODS. 

A large Dutchman enters, dressed soniczvhat like a 
stage Dutchman and somezvhat like a G erman- American. 

Dutchman (bozvs). — Some philosophers told you that 
you are living too high. To help you reduce the cost 
of high living, I will chant a little song. 

When the Demon saw the Dutchman 

He didn't like his looks, 

And said that he'd give him 

Five hundred and seven years 

Of sauer-kraut and ashes — 

But he hasn't got him yet — 

But he hasn't got him yet. 

When the Dutchman saw the Demon 
He wasn't scared a bit; 
And laughed to hear him say, 
"Five hundred and seven years 
Of sauer-kraut and ashes !" 
For he hasn't got him yet — 
For he hasn't got him yet. 

(A devil enters chanting. The devil has horns, feet 
that suggest cloven feet, and a tail.) 

Devil — When the Dutchrnan. goes below. 
And the Demon getS' his due. 
He'll give that Dutchman 
Five hundred and seven years 
Of sauer-kraut and ashes ! 

Dutchman — But he hasn't got him yet — 

But he hasn't got him yet. 
Devil — Not yet but soon. 



living tL filf ^Ik^^A"*** threaten to give the public a long period of plain 
r^Ztt. 7h.wft "^l"* staffs represents the efforts of the national government to 
regulate the b.g trusts with its big stick. The fist fight represente the efforts that 
have been made to regulate the local trusts. 



Dutchman (looking at the devil and laughing) — When 
the devil saw the Dutchman, he didn't Hke the looks 
of the darling. I'm not scared a bit. I can whip any 
devil I ever saw, and I can whip you. 

(They iight zvith varying success ivith dark, knotted 
staffs made from the branches of trees. Then the Dutch- 
man throzvs dozen his staff.) 

Dutchman — I can whip you with my bare fists — 
American style. 

(They put up their fists, and prepare to fight. After 
a little equal fighting, the devil has a decided advantage. 
Then, the devil hits the Dutchman a number of hard 
blozvs, and forces him backzvard across the stage. The 
Dutchman in turn forces back the devil zvith several 
blozvs, and finally doubles him up and sends him reeling 
backzvard zvith a heavy blozv in the stomach.) 

Dutchman (laughing) — Even good people don't like 
to see the devil getting all the dividends ! 

(The Dutchman forces the devil back and chases him 
about the stage. Then the devil turns on the Dutchman 
and gives him rough usage.) 

Dutchman — If you chase the devil, he may catch you ! 

(After some more fighting, the devil strikes the Dutch- 
man a heavy blozv on the jazv, and then holds the hand 
that struck the blozv as though it zvere hurt. The Dutch- 
man holds his hand to his jazv for an instant, and then 
his face brightens.) 

Dutchman — The devil struck the Dutchman and hit 
him on the jaw, but it didn't hurt him any — the devil 
broke his fist ! 

(A goat enters zvith ribbons and adjustable bells on it 
horns and in a red jacket marked on each side. The 
Darling of the Gods. The goat is trained to rear on its 
hind legs, to pazv the air, to nod its head, and to do other 
tricks.) 



This is not a collection of jests but a very serious olav ae u,iii k^ „ a — 7T 
those who will read the Notes. venous piay, as will be evident to 

Read the Notes at the end of the book for each Act before reading the Act. 



THE DEMON AND THE 



Dutchman — Ah ! The darling of the gods ! Welcome, 
darling. (Speaks to the devil.) Here, take up the goat. 

(The devil refuses, and the Dutchman lifts up the 
goat on its hind legs.) 

Dutchman — I took up a task that even the devil 
rejected. 

(The Dutchman makes the goat perform its tricks. 
He then kneels on one knee beside the rearing goat, and 
makes amusing gestures with the forelegs of the goat 
while he sings and the goat nods its head.) 

ThS Mascot Goat. 

I'm the children's friend and the sailor's mate, 
In the mock parade I ride in state — 

If you sail or you row, 

I bring luck as you know — 
I'm a mascot wherever I go. 

I'm a mascot wherever I go — 
I'm a mascot wherever I go — 
In the regions above or the realms below, 
I'm a mascot wherever I go. 

The admiral's frown when butted down 
Amuses me, for don't you see, 

Though "Ad" may be 

Of high degree, 

I'm more secure than he. 

I'm more secure than he — 
I'm more secure than he — 
Though "Ad" may be of high degree, 
I'm more secure than he. 

(The Dutchman rises to sing the rest of the song, and 
the goat rears and paws the air, or does other appropriate 
tricks, at each chorus.) 



The Mascot Goat. 



Words by 
WILBUR CARRIER. 

Allegro moderato. 



Music by 
SAMUEL H. SPECK. 




1. I'm the chiMren's friend and the sail or's mate, In the 

2. The admiral's frown wten butt • eH down A - 
'i I bring > ou fame in the base ball game— He 



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mock par-ade I ride instate— If you sail or you row, I brirj; luck as you know— I'm a 
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International Copyright secured 



8 THE DEMON AND THE 



(The goat drops down zvith its legs doubled under it 
and with its head to the floor and bleats.) 

When you lose your hold on me — 
When you lose your hold on me — 
The glooms get you and your title too, 
When you lose your hold on me. 

(The goat rolls over on its back, and zvaves its legs, and 
bleats.) 

Terry lost for he lost me — 
Terry lost for he lost me — 
He was all at sea when in lack of me — 
Terry lost for he lost me. 

(Repeat this chorus.) 

If you seek to gain wealth, health, or fame, 
Then hold your grip and me. 
If you lose your grip 
All things will slip — 
Then hold your grip and me. 

When you hold your grip and your goat ! 

When you hold your grip and your goat ! 

O, the joys that rise as you grasp the prize, 

When you hold your grip and your goat ! 

When you don't let them get your goat! 

When you don't let them get your goat ! 

O, the joys that rise as you grasp the prize, 

When you don't let them get your goat ! 

Devil — Did you notice that the price of goats has 
raised ? Never did ? Well ! The price of goat meat has 
raised — ask your butcher! 



The People's Goat. 



Words by 
WILBUR CARRIER. 

Tempo di Gavotte. 



Muiic by 
SAMUEL H. SPECK. 




Moderate. 



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DARLING OF THE GODS 



(The Dntchuian sings.) 

The People's Goat. 

When the Packers raised the price of meat, 
You and yours were completely beat. 
Their graft was great, as you did note. 

For they stole your coin and got your goat — 
For they stole your coin and got your goat. 

The cries of the poor made a piteous plea, 
But they heeded not in their merry glee ; 
For the Packers' camp had Aladdin's lamp, 
When they got your coin and me. 

(The goat drops dozvn zvith its legs doubled under it and 
its head to the floor, and bleats.) 

When they got your coin and me — 
When they got your coin and me — 
The Packers' camp had Aladdin's lamp, 
When they got your coin and me. 

(The goat rolls over on its back, ivaves its legs, and 
bleats.) 

When they got your coin and your goat ! 

When they got your coin and your goat ! 

The Packers' camp had Aladdin's lamp. 

When they got your coin and your goat ! 

{Repeat this chorus.) 

Devil — Well! I never did anything like that! 

Dutchman — Your name is Ananias ! Your brother 
started the scheme, and you helped it along. 

Once upon a time, an avaricious shoemaker borrowed 
a fellow workman's wax. At first he said, "Lend me 
'your' wax." Later he spoke of "our" wax. After a while 
he said, "Who's got 'my' wax?" 

Devil — I never did anything like that either ! 

Dutchman — You are Ananias the second time ! You 
tempted that man to claim his brother's property. (Turns 
to the audience.) 



\0 THE DEMON AND THE 

This is a Dutch goat, but first he was an Irish goat. 
Straight! (Nods his head.) Straight Dutch-Irish joke! 
Mike McCarty raised him. When his boys were not 
fighting one another, they teased the goat. Back of 
Mike's place was a footbridge over a stream, and the 
boys would tease the goat until it charged them on to 
this bridge. The little rascals had a board to which 
they had fastened some rubber car springs stolen from 
the railroad company. They would raise this board on 
the bridge, and then the goat charging like a white streak 
would strike the rubber, bound up into the air, and fall 
splash into the water. That tickled the boys, and Mike 
nearly died laughing when he first saw it. One day 
the devil, just to make trouble, tempted Mike to play 
that little game himself as a joke on the goat. But 
Mike was not so nimble as the boys, as he stooped to 
raise the board, the goat caught him — and Mike sold 
that goat to me. 

(The Dutchman beats time on his hand as he sings, and 
the goat rears.) 

Mike sold that goat to me — 
Mike sold that goat to me — 
When he saw stars and the son of Mars, 
Mike sold that goat to me. 

Mike sold that goat to me — 
Mike sold that goat to me — 
Yes ! when he saw stars and the son of Mars, 
Mike sold that goat to me. 

(Repeat this chorus.) 

Devil — That is a true story. I was there. 

Dutchman — So Mike said ! and Mike told me that that 
imp of Satan was a discredit to the old Nick himself! 

Mike and the goat and even the devil are witnesses 
to this story. 



DARLING OF THE GODS H 

Devil — I have been a witness before. 

Dutchman (looking sideivise at the devil) — I know you 
have ! The lawyer on my wife's side hired you. 

(The devil gives the Dutchman a vicious ram in the 
side with his horns. The Dutchman holds his hands to 
the hurt, and makes a grimace of pain.) 

Dutchman — That makes the devil wag his tail! I'd 
just like to have a dollar's worth of demons ! I believe 
he's incorporated ! 

(At a motion from the Dutchman, the Dutchman, devil, 
and goat stand in a line, facing the audience.) 

Dutchman (in low voice) — Wait till I get hold of the 
coat tail of that demon. (The demon has no coat.) 

(The Dutchman and the devil put up their fists, and at 
a nod from the Dutchman they both strike at imaginary 
enemies in front while the goat rears, pazvs the air,' and 
nods.) 

Dutchman — Fighting against the world ! 

(All three turn their backs to the audience, and iight 
at imaginary enemies at the rear of the stage. Then 
the devil, grinning, turns round toivard the audience, and 
with hand to mouth speaks in a stage whisper while 
pointing at the other tzvo that are still fighting backward.) 

Devil — When the Dutchman saw that the battle was 
going against him, he turned about and fought against 
himself in order to be on the winning side ! 

(While all three are turning to face the audience, the 
Dutchman treads heavily on the devil's foot. The devil 
stands on one foot and holds the hurt foot with both 
hands while his face is conculsed with pain.) 

Dutchman (laughing) — The Dutchman didn't see the 
devil, and stepped upon his toe. 

Devil (trying to put his weight on the hurt foot) — 
That makes me feel faint. 



*Some of the trusts have received some blows. The complaints of the 
devil about his hurt foot illustrate the whines of the street car, express, and 
railroad companies over the regulation of their rates. (See the simile and 
footnote on p. 34.) 



n THE DEMON AND THE 

Dutchman — I notice you don't wag your tail. 

Devil — My big brother will get you ! He'll sauer- 
kraut your ashes ! 

(All three stand in line facing the audience, the goat 
rearing.) 

Dutchman (bozvs) — You have seen the Dutchman, the 
demon, and the darling of the gods; and the darling 
was a mascot. If you should ever see a woman, a 
lawyer, and the darling of the gods, you may know 
that the darling is in trouble. 

(All three bozu and turn to leave the stage, the Dutch- 
man leading the goat. The devil snatches the goat and 
runs off the stage with it, meanwhile grinning at the 
Dutchman. The Dutchman chases the devil.) 

Dutchman — Stop him ! Stop him ! 

(The Dutchman stops, puts his hands on his knees, and 
doubles up in agony as he looks after the disappearing 
goat.) 

Dutchman — The devil's got my goat! The devil's got 
my goat ! 



ACT II. 

THE WOMAN AND THE LAWYER AND THE DARLING OF THE 

GODS. 

Characters of the Comedy in Acts II and III. 
Oscar Meyers, the Dutchman (the German- American 

of Act I), a teaming contractor. 
Agnes, his first wife (--an American). 
Rose, his second wife (an American). 
The doctor. 
A devil-lawyer. 



The Darling of the Gods (The Mascot Goat). 



*The devil-lawyers represent the lawyers that framed the organizations of 
the trusts on unscrupulous lines. (See p. 38.) 

In Act II the devil tempts the wife of the Dutchman. In the scene 
given on p. 27, a "good" lawyer gives "good" advice to the grocers. 
These scenes express the same idea in different ways. (See p. 39.) 



AI 



GENERAL NOTES 



The Farce in Act I is an allegory and the Comedy in Acts II and III 
is another allegory. The explanations are given on the inserted leaves, 
in the footnotes, and at the end of the book. 

The Play, and also the book as a whole, is written in the 
interests of the wage-earners (including salaried men), the 
poor, and the oppressed; and it is designed to aid in lowering 
the cost of living by showing the ways in which the local 
trusts have been bleeding the people, by designating and 
denouncing the grafters, by showing how retail prices may 
be regulated by local organizations of the plain people, and 
by helping to arouse such a public sentiment that graft will 
be suppressed in one way if not in another. 

AN OPEN LETTER 

Mr. Politician: — 

If the plain people get an idea that there is a secret sym- 
pathetic connection between your party and the local grafters 
by reason of political contributions, that idea will greatly 
interfere with the support that the plain people now give 
your party. You must choose between the grafters and the 
plain people, for you cannot serve both masters. 

The money and political influence of the merchants, as a 
class, have been heartlessly and unscrupulously used in the 
formation and protection of local trusts. Most merchants 
eith&r belong to an organized local trust or have an under- 
standing with one another with reference to the maintenance 
of prices that practically makes them members of a local 
trust — members of a combination in restraint of trade.* Is 
it not time that you should use your influence for the enact- 
ment of laws prohibiting the giving of political contributions 



•Most of the farmers' Associations also are combinations in restraint 
of trade. Without exception, all unreasonable combinations in restraint 
of trade oppress the people. These farmers' Associations control a large 
vote, but those who buy food could, if organized, control a larger vote. 



A2 TO AID IN LOWERING 

by merchants? Would it not be better to enact laws that 
will require that all nomination and election expenses shall 
be paid by the State, and that will prohibit the buying or the 
selling of the influence of a political boss with a legislator? 
If each of the great political parties should cease its present 
dependence upon the campaign contributions of the local 
trusts, these parties would then, as you know, give more 
service to the people and less service to the local trusts. 

If you have been sent to the capital of your State, should 
not your actions show you to be a champion of the people 
and not a champion of the local trusts? If you have done 
little or nothing to suppress the graft of the merchants, you 
have not been a friend of the people. 

If you have been sent to Washington, and have been busy 
protecting the little trusts from the big ones, is it not time 
that you, as one of the leaders of your party, should use 
your influence in your own State in protecting the plain 
people from their oppressors, the local trusts that make the 
cost of living high? If you are unwilling to do so, you will 
be unable to retain your hold on the plain people, for you 
will be unworthy of their respect. 

If you are "afraid" to commit your party to such a reck- 
less policy as that of the indiscriminate abolition of graft, 
will you not exert your influence in the formation of local 
organizations designed to abolish graft? If each one of the 
great political parties could be induced to become the enemy 
of the local grafters, these grafters would be heloless. There 
is no such hope at present, for these parties prefer to be the 
friends of the local grafters (their financial supporters), but 
you might be a friend of the people. 

GENERAL NOTES 

In comparison with the leading countries of Europe, little 
effort is made in this country to prevent the local merchants 
from giving short weight and short measure, from selling 
impure or deceitfully adulterated or deceitfully defective 
goods, or from using false advertisements and recommenda- 
tions. This shows at a glance the unscrupulousness of both 
the merchants and the officeholders as classes and the strong 



THE COST OF LIVING A3 

hold of the merchants of this country upon the politicians 
and oiiftceholders of all the leading parties. 

It is well known that such misgovernment as is exhibited in the larger 
American cities would be a discredit to any civilized people. The mer- 
chants as a class are to a great extent responsible for this. They do not 
want officeholders that are too honest. They do not want any genuine 
reform for fear that their own iniquities might be touched— that their 
rapid money-making might be interfered with. For the well-being of their 
families and the honor of their country, it is time that the American 
people should remove this reproach.* 

NOTES FOR ACT I 

The fight with stafifs represents the efforts of the big trusts 
to control the national government and the efforts of the 
national government (through its agents, Roosevelt, Taft, 
and Wilson) to regulate the big trusts with its big stick. This 
conflict has been indecisive, for the big trusts have failed to 
control the national government, and the national government 
has failed to lower the cost of living noticeably by its dis- 
memberments of the big trusts. If each of the smaller trusts 
into which a big trust is divided raises its prices, that does 
not lower the cost of living very much. The people will 
finally force the national government to regulate the prices of 
all the trusts that do an interstate business. 

The trusts that bleed the people the most are the local trusts 
(chiefly organized merchants and farmers). The fist fight 
at close quarters represents the attempts of the people through 
their local governments to regulate these local trusts. So 
far in this conflict, the local trusts have had the advantage, for 
they have usually charged as high prices as they pleased, and 
the public has paid the bills; but the people will finally force 
the local governments to regulate the prices of all the local 
trusts — that will lower the cost of living, and then the devil 
will be whipped. 

The expression of the Dutchman, as given on page 6, when 
he took up the goat, indicates the disagreeable task of those 
who reprove the grafters — a task intentionally made dis- 

*When the plain people know enough to organize and to present a 
united front to the grafters, the grafters will vanish. The plain people 
have the votes and they can rule this country if they will. To keep you 
divided at local elections into factions called parties, is one of the devices 
of your enemy to hold you in subjection (see pp. A9, A20, A23). 



A4 TO AID IN LOWERING 

agreeable by the grafters. The devil and his people try to 
keep things quiet. t They want no one to notice, to mention, 
or to interfere with their graft. They make a great effort 
to suppress "knocking." To this end, they and their agents 
use sneers and call those who oppose them and their works, 
"knockers," "tight-wads," "pikers," "muckrakers."t People 
who try to keep things quiet through a friendly feeling for 
the grafters, or because they receive some share of the graft, 
or through fear that exposure of actual conditions may injure 
the business prosperity of the city, — these people are allies 
of the grafters. For to aid in keeping things quiet is to aid 
in maintaining the present bloodsucking conditions. These 
allies of the grafters include many politicians, editors, bankers, 
real-estate boomers, and other business men. Also, the need 
of mutual support makes one grafter the natural ally of 
another grafter. 

Agitation is the only means of arousing such a public 
sentiment and of forming such an organization of the plain 
people that frightened public officials will abolish graft or 
be replaced by honest men. An aroused public sentiment is 
all that is necessary. The rest will follow — if not in the better 
way, then in the worse way. 

Who rule this country? Are they those who elect the 
officeholders, or are they those whose influence determines 
the names of the nominees or acts as a veto to the insertion 
upon political slates of the names of men who are to them 
undesirable? To whom do the officeholders usually show 
great deference — to the unorganized voters, or to those to 
whom they owe their nomination? Do the wage-earners 

JThrough their advertisements the local trusts control the expression 
of thought in most of the newspapers and magazines. Also, they control 
the expression of thought in most of the theaters (including moving- 
picture shows) ; for the theaters are run to make money, and their man- 
agers do not wish to oflfend a group of influential patrons. When the 
organized local grafters say, "Graft is my child — do not touch it," the 
newspaper, magazine, and theater managers bow in submission. 

tThe same man who denounces the graft of the big trusts and con- 
siders that in so doing he is a good citizen acting in the interests of the 
public calls a man who denounces the graft of the local trusts, a "muck- 
raker." The schoolboy knows on which side his bread is buttered — the 
grafter knows on which side his pocket-nerve is connected. 



THE COST OF LIVING A5 

(including salaried men) have much to say about nomina- 
tions? If a special election is held to determine the nominees, 
and if some clique, or cliques, to which you do not belong, 
determines in advance the names from which you must 
make a selection if you do not wish to throw away your 
vote, do you actually have much to say about that nomination? 
Would it be unfair to the rest of the community if, for a 
change, the plain people should form an organization that 
would determine the names of the nominees? 

If one only of the great political parties should dare to try 
to abolish graft, the grafters could crush that party. If the 
plain people, irrespective of party, would form in each city a 
local organization designed to fight the grafters and to regu- 
late retail prices, grafting could be suppressed. Such organ- 
izations could force a lowering of the cost of living, and end 
the oppression of the people by the merchants; for, though 
the individual is helpless, organized men can do all things 
(see page A20). 

Different people cite different things as the chief cause of the present 
high cost of living, such as too high a tariff, the large trusts, the increased 
supply of gold, the scarcity of cattle, etc. Many of these people arc 
grafters, or agents or allies of the grafters, and above all things else they 
wish to keep you quiet while you are being bled — to keep you quiet by 
concealing the fact that graft is the one great cause of high retail prices 
(high compared with the price of labor). Many others (not all) of these 
people are politicians. The politicians wish to use any issue that will 
serve as a cart to carry them to Washington or the State capital or the 
city hall or the courthouse. They give you little in return for your votes 
except enough specious performances to keep you quiet, and they dare 
do little to lower the cost of living because they are under obligations 
to their financial supporters, the local trusts. The hollowness of the 
claim that the scarcity of cattle is the chief cause of the high retail price 
of beef is shown by the fact that the retail prices of provisions and other 
necessities are high even when there is no scarcity. Also, it is not just that 
a combination in restraint of trade should be allowed to take advantage of 
a scarcity to make unreasonable profits. To raise a dust about minor 
causes, real or assumed, of the high price of necessities, is a grafter's 
way of distracting attention from his graft.* 

The interstate trusts, local trusts, public officials, trade- 
folks, manufacturers, bankers, professional men, farmers, etc., 
are servants of the public. All servants of the public (except 

*See p. All for a discussion of the effect of the increased supply of gold. 



A6 



ourselves) that bleed the public are grafters. All grafters, 
big and little, with their agents and allies and all those who 
directly or indirectly aid the grafters are reactionaries. Many 
men who call themselves progressives, and who are progres- 
sive with reference to the abolition of the graft of the big 
trusts, are themselves members of what is practically a local 
trust, and are a bad kind of grafters, hypocrites, and reac- 
tionaries.! Many a so-called progressive politician denounces 
the graft of the big trusts in scathing terms; but he does 
not really believe in a "square deal" for all — not exactly. He 
needs the votes of the farmers and the money of the mer- 
chants. These people are his friends. In the presence of 
their graft he is blind and deaf and dumb. "His spear knows 
a brother." Such a politician is a reactionary. Many men 
who call themselves progressives are reactionaries because 
they do not pull in line with the progressives but pull in a 
side direction and thus interfere with progress. Many men 
are reactionaries because they keep quiet and do nothing when 
they are imposed upon. They are the mud that clings to 
the cart wheel. 

The conclusion of the farce (p. 12) represents the present 
condition of the public. The devil has got the people's goat! 
Those who bleed you, those who prey upon you and your 
families are your enemies and you should be theirs. "They 
have got your goat!" Will you continue so tamely to submit 
to their thefts? Will you be the mud on the cart wheel? 

If you are men, and if you wish to better your condition by 
fighting efifectively in your own self defense, take a lesson 
from your enemy, unite and form in every city a non-partisan 
Association of the food buyers. So long as you are divided 
into factions, you are helpless. United in one Association, 
you can nominate and elect a set of officials who will regulate 
retail prices and curb the greed of the merchants and 
farmers. J 

tThese are the devil's kind of progressives (see pp. 25, 26). 

lEven though they have separate candidates at State and national 
elections, the Republicans, Democrats, Socialists, and Prohibitionists can 
unite at local elections (see p. A20). 



DARLING OF THE GODS [3 

(The Dutchman and his zuife are seated in ai room of 
their home. Margaret is playing zvith toys on the floor, 
and the goat is standing near by. The Dutchman is 
dressed in his home clothes.) 

Dutchman — Don't you and Margaret want to take a 
trolley ride and a walk with me, Agnes? I am going to 
see my foreman at his home, and you can visit with Mrs. 
Jones for an hour while we talk about the teaming. 

Wife — I should like to go — the country is pretty now 
— but I haven't finished my work yet. You might take 
Margaret. 

Margaret {running to her father) — Yes, papa, take me. 

Dutchman — All right, little girl, you shall have a 
trolley ride, but it isn't time yet. Let's see if our mascot 
has forgotten his tricks. Come here, Toney. {Makes 
the goat perform some tricks.) Take a ride, Margaret, 
on the goat. That is as good as a trolley ride. {Sets 
the child on the goat and leads the goat about the room.) 
Ged dap ! Show your speed, Toney ! You ride like a 
little circus girl! Wasn't that a fine ride! {Tosses the 
child in the air and sets her on her feet.) 

Wife — Oscar, sing me a goat song. 

Dutchman — I don't know any more. 

Wife — O, don't be bashful — be a good fellow. I feel 
just like listening to a song. 

(The Dutchman goes to the front of the stage to sing. 
He kneels beside the rearing goat, and makes mictions 
zvith its fore legs.) 

The Mascot Goat. 

His owner's pride now strikes his stride — 
Along the race course swift they glide. 

Now records go — 

All else seem slow — 

I'm his mascot you must know. 



M THE DEMON AND THE 

That win was due to me — 
I'm his mascot now you see — 
As the crowds do know when the records go, 
I'm his mascot now you see. 

{Repeat this chorus.) 
(The Dutchman now rises, and at each succeeding 
chorus the goat rears.) 

If a poor hand you hold, you must then be bold — 
Just keep your nerve and me. 
To bad luck atone, 
Or to go it alone. 
Just keep your nerve and me. 

Just keep your nerve and me — 
Just keep your nerve and me — 
To bad luck atone, or to go it alone, 
Just keep your nerve and me. 

If you are running lame in an uphill game. 
Just keep your nerve and me. 

The last may be first — 

You may win the purse — 
Just keep your nerve and me. 

If you lose your sails, or your motor fails, 
Just keep your nerve and me. 

If you have pluck 

You can change your luck! 
Just keep your nerve and me. 

If in a long glide to earth you slide. 
Hold your grip on hope and your goat ! 

All will soon be right. 

And the future bright — 
Hold your grip on hope and your goat 1 

Hold your grip on hope and your goat ! 
Hold your grip on hope and your goat ! 
All will soon be right, and the future bright- 
Hold your grip on hope and your goat ! 



DARLING OF THE GODS [5 

Dutchman (looks at his watch) — It is time to go. 
(Sends the goat out of the room.) 

Wife — Here, Margaret, is you hat. (Gets the child's 
hat and puts it on.) 

Dutchman — We will be back by five o'clock. (Takes 
the child by the hand and leaves.) 

(The wife busies herself, dusting and arranging the 
furniture, and then answers the door bell, and invites a 
devil-lazvyer to enter. The devil-lazuyer has the appear- 
ance of a very respectable lawyer except that he has 
horns and misshapen feet somewhat resembling cloven 
feet.) 

Devil — Good afternoon, Mrs. Meyers, I called to see 
your husband about some legal matters. Is he at home? 

Wife — He has gone out and will be back at five o'clock. 

Devil — Then I shall have to call again. But look 
out of the window — there is Mr. Brown passing on the 
other side of the street. Isn't he a fine-looking man ? 

Wife — Yes, he is a friend of ours. He sat with us 
at the ball game last week. He was very nice and ex- 
plained all the plays to me. 

Devil — Yes, to be sure ; and let me whisper a secret. 
A woman of your good looks could have such a man 
as that for a husband if she wanted him. 

Wife — Nonsense ! 

Devil — It is true — I'll swear it. How would you like 
to have him for a husband? 

Wife — I already have a husband. 

Devil — Yes, but why not get a better one ? 

Wife— I couldn't do that. 

Devil — My dear madam, in this part of the country 
any woman who wants another husband can get a 
divorce. You start a rumpus and get your husband 
to carry it on — any woman knows how to do that. A 



\6 THE DEMON AND THE 

small rumpus is all that is necessary; and then you en- 
gage some good lawyer like me. I present your case 
to the judge, and show him how your husband has 
abused you, slighted your affections, and injured your 
feelings, and that you can not live happily with him 
any longer. You put on your nicest dress and sweetest 
smile, or look poorly dressed and feeble (either one) — 
the judge sympathizes with you — you get your divorce, 
and then you are free. If your husband fights the case 
I can, if necessary, bring some of my relatives into 
court, and they will swear to anything I say. Why 
work, as you are doing now for this man, when you 
can get another husband who will give you everything 
you want and servants to wait on you? 

Wife — How much would that cost? 

Devil — My fee will be moderate, for you, I know, are 
not rich. Only one hundred dollars now and fifteen 
hundred after you marry again and have plenty of 
money. That is all you have to pay. The court will 
make your husband pay some too. 

Wife — How can I get the one hundred dollars? 

Devil — Ask your husband for a new dress and other 
things, and search his pockets. If then you are contrary 
after getting the money, he will feel ill-natured, and that 
will help the game along. 

Wife — Excuse me a few moments. (Leaves the room.) 
Devil (zvalks back and forth and rubs his hands to- 
gether) — I am acting as the lawyer for the woman and 
for Brown both, and getting money from both. I only 
wish I could be the lawyer for the husband too! (Con- 
sults his notebook.) Let me see which of these three 
lots I had better buy. I'll go right down and make a 
part payment on Lot 17, and when I get some more 
money from Brown, I will make a part payment on 
Lot 27. When I win this case, I pay for both lots and 
make a part payment on Lot 30. That looks good to 
me! If this city only keeps on growing 1 shall soon be 
rich. 



DARLING OF THE GODS [7 

(The curtain falls, and then rises shozving the Dutch- 
man and the goat. The same scene. The Dutchman looks 
disconsolate and chants a song.) 

Dutchman — 

They took my cloak, they took my coat — 
What the lawyers leave is of little note ! 

I lost name and fame — 

I lost child and dame — 
Lost all I had but my goat ! 

My mascot, what shall I do? That devil-lawyer stole 
my wife. The lawyers and the wife got all my money, 
and I have nothing left but you. I thought at first I 
had lost you too, but you came back. {Takes off the 
jacket of the goat.) An uncle of ours has to get your 
jacket, but when my luck changes, I will get you a new 
one. {Sits dozvn and takes the head of the goat on his 
knees) Now, tell me, my mascot, what I shall do. 

{The Dutchman rises zvith a bright face.) 

My mascot "sets us all right" ! He told me this ! 
{Sings zvhile he holds the jacket in one hand, and the 
goat rears.) 

If you are running lame in an uphill game, 
Just keep your nerve and me ! 

The last may be first — 

You may win the purse — 
Just keep your nerve and me ! 

If you lose your sails, or your motor fails. 
Just keep your nerve and me ! 

If you have pluck 

You can change your luck ! 
Just keep your nerve and me ! 

That sets me right! In five years I have my five 
thousand dollars back and another wife ! 



18 THE DEMON AND THE 



ACT III. 

THE DOCTOR AND THE LAWYER AND THE DARLING OF THE 

GODS. 

The Dutchman and another wife of his are seated in 
another and better house of the Dutchman. The Dutch- 
man is caressing the goat. The goat has a new and 
better jacket. 

Dutchman — I would not part with my mascot for 
anything. Five years ago to-day, I said I would get 
my five thousand dollars back and another wife, and I 
did it. It was my mascot that helped me get you. 
I'll tell my friend, Dr. Pillsbury, to get a goat. That 
will help him too. 

Wife — I don't believe that the doctor likes goats. 

Dutchman — He would love one if it brought him good 
luck. I'm just glad I lost my other wife — you are so 
much better. 

Wife — You are good to say so. 

Dutchman — If the law would let me, I would like to 
have two wives if they both were as good as you. 

Wife — Don't you do it. That would spoil everything. 

"Two women and one house. 
Two kitties and one mouse," 
can never agree. 

Dutchman — Well, don't worry, Rose. The law doesn't 
allow that yet. You and I will just be in clover here 
if I don't lose my money again. I wouldn't like to lose 
it, because that would spoil everything too. I found out 
from bitter experience that this is true, — 

When fortune smiles your friends smile too, 
When you drop your coin your friends drop you. 



Words by 
WILBUR CARRIER. 



The Enemy's Goat. 



Music by 
SAMUEL H. SPECK. 



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2. When you strike a blow that 




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fierce attack Has beat-en your foe - man's bravest back, Then his val - or dies— He feebly strives, And 

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in your hand his pen - nant flies. Then you get his flag and me— Then you get his 
win for you get me! You win for you get me! You win for 



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flag and me— With joyous cries you seize the prize- 
you get me! With glee you see the enemy flee- 

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Then you get his flag and me. 
You win for you get me! 




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Copyright 1914 by Wilbur Carrier. International Copyright secured. 



DARLING OF THE GODS 19 

Wife — Don't worry about that, Oscar. You won't 
lose your money the second time. Lightning doesn't 
strike twice in the same place. Sing me one of your 
goat songs. 

Dutchman — There comes Dr. Pillsbury now. (After 
the salutations are over.) Doctor, you came just in 
time. My wife wants to hear a goat song. You sing 
better than I can. Show her how well you can sing 
"The Enemy's Goat." 

Doctor (bozving to the wife) — Very well. I will do 
my best to please the lady. {Goes to the front of the 
stage to sing.) 

The Enemy's Goat."^ 

When the vim and zeal of your fierce attack 
Have beaten your foeman's bravest back, 

Then his valor dies — 

He feebly strives, 

And in your hand his pennant flies. 

Then you get his flag and me — 
Then you get his flag and me — 
With joyous cries you sieze the prize — 
Then you get his flag and me. 

When you strike a blow that makes them reel, 
And they shrink and cower beneath your steel, 

Then you with glee 

See the enemy flee — 
You win for you get me! 

You win for you get me! 
You win for you get me! 
With glee you see the enemy flee — 
You win for you get me! 

*ine enemy s uoat song is proposed as one of the battle songs of the 
anti-graft crusaders. Each of the goat songs suggests that the people 
should crush the tyrants that now oppress them, or it encourages the 
people and suggests to them the necessity of keeping their nerve and their 
goat. The people can do nothing unless, irrespective of party affiliations, 
they unite at local elections. In union there is strength. This is a trite 
saying that the people have not known enough to practice. Their enemies 
have been wiser than they. When the people know enough to unite, the 
tables will be turned ; and then the people will get their enemy's goat. 



20 THE DEMON AND THE 

They lost for they lost me! 
They lost for they lost me ! 
They were forced to flee when in lack of me — 
They lost for they lost me! 

When you get the enemy's goat ! 
When you get the enemy's goat ! 
Naught else you see compares with me, 
When you get the enemy's goat ! 

When you get the enemy's goat! 
When you get the enemy's goat! 
Then all you see you get with me, 
When you get the enemy's goat! 

Wife — Thanks, Doctor. I like to hear you sing, 
and you must sing again for us some other time. 
Please excuse me now. {Bozvs and leaves.) 

Dutchman — People are not sick so much as they used 
to be. 

Doctor — No, they are not. The statistics show that, 
thanks to my efforts, there is a decided improvement 
in the health of this community. 

Dutchman — I am well, and yet I am in trouble. Can 
you help me. Doctor? 

Doctor — What is the trouble? 

Dutchman — It is that devil-lawyer. Five years ago, 
as you know, he stole my wife and five thousand dollars, 
and now he is trying to play me the same trick again. 

Doctor — He stole one of my wives once — that didn't 
matter much — I got another wife the next day. But 
if he is trying to get your money, that is serious. It 
seems natural for an educated devil to drop into the 
practice of law ; and then, too, they are driving out 
the better class of lawyers. When we get a reform 
legislature, I am sure all that will be stopped. As it is 
now these devil-lawyers are skinning people alive, and 
the only chance the public has to get even with them 



DARLING OF THE GODS n 

is through the doctors. He is a devil sure; but don't 
worry — I'm his doctor — I'll get his goat — I'll operate 
on him for appendicitis. 

Dutchman — He'll make me pay the bill ! 

Doctor — Now, leave this to me and don't worry. He 
knows already that his appendix is affected, and I can 
fix him up nicely.' ' Most devils have a very large 
appendix that is difficult to remove, and it is ten chances 
out of ten that the operation will not be successful. 

Dutchman — Do the best you can for me, Doctor. I'd 
hate to lose either my money or my wife again. 

Doctor — All right, I'll pull you through. He shall 
never say of you again, "Poor fellow ! He dropped into 
the sauer-kraut and was covered up with ashes." 

(The curtain falls, and then rises shozving the doctor, 
Dutchman, devil-laivyer, and goat. The same scene.) 

Doctor (addressing the devil) — This operation is 
necessary to save your life — you die without it. A delay 
of a single day is dangerous. At any hour the disease 
may become acute, and then you would die in a short 
time. Chloroform makes the operation painless. Let 
me test your heart. (Tests the devil's heart.) 

My dear sir, I am obliged to inform you that we can 
not use the chloroform. 

Devil— Why ? 

Doctor — You have no heart. For a person without a 
heart to inhale chloroform is sure death. But science has 
more than one string for her bow — I can use a local 
anesthetic. (Speaks to the Dutchman.) We will be 
back soon. Good-by for five minutes. (Takes his 
instrument-case and goes with the devil into the next 
room.) 

Dutchman — Come here, Toney, my mascot. (Caresses 
the goat.) We hope that operation is not successful — 
don't we? He has been getting rich at our expense — 
hasn't he? He is trying to wreck our home again — 
isn't he? If we get his goat he won't get ours — will he? 



*The grafters know already that they are under suspicion— they already 
are dreading the surgeon's knife. 



22 THE DEMON AND THE 

(In a minute the doctor rushes excitedly into the room, 
carrying a butcher knife in one hand and zmving a 
carving fork over his head zvith the other.) 

Doctor (shouting) — "Rejoice, all the world, — the devil 
is dead !" When he saw these, my instruments, he died 
of nervous prostration before I had a chance to operate ! 

Dutchman (falls on his knees, and hugs the goat, and 
laughs for joy) — I'm saved ! I'm saved ! My mascot 
saved me! 

(The curtain falls, and the doctor and the Dutchman 
sing in joyous tones from behind the curtain.) 

When you get the enemy's goat! 

When you get the enemy's goat ! 
Then all you see you get with me, 

When you get the enemy's goat ! 
(The curtain rises showing the doctor, Dutchman, and 
rearing goat in line, facing the audience. The doctor 
and the Dutchman repeat the song. The Dutchman is 
excitedly joyous. The doctor is grave and holds the 
instrument-case only in his hand. Then the curtain falls, 
and they are heard singing the song as they march azvay.) 



ACT IV. 

THE BIBLE CLASS. 

Characters of the Social Problem Play in Acts IV and V. 

Edward, an American clerk employed in the office of a 
baggage-express company. 

Clara, the American wife of Edward. 

Mary, the daughter. 

Children. 

Grocers. 

Two devil-lawyers. 



The Darling of the Gods (The Mascot Goat.) 
(The clerk appears before the curtain to sing.) 



A7 



GENERAL NOTES 



The Social Problem Play attacks the grafters. For this 
play the Farce and the Comedy are an introduction and a 
preparation. All those that bleed the public are grafters; 
and it may well be said that each group of grafters, whether 
the agreement is written or verbal or is merely an understand- 
ing, is a Devil's Bible Class. (See p. 39.) 

As a result of the graft of the Devil's Bible Classes, many families are 
pinched, and many married women have to work out to help to support 
the family. That is not good for the rising generation, but the grafters 
care little. The care of their avaricious souls is to see that "knocking"t 
is suppressed, and that their graft is not interfered with. 

The grafters "are not in business for their health." Con- 
tinued grafting has deadened their conscience and deadened 
their feelings of honor, fair dealing, and of pity. The motto, 
"I believe in live and let live," as used by a grafter, means 
that he himself is willing to be gouged provided he can 
increase the graft and then pass the load to someone else. 
The man who works for wages deserves a leather medal for 
allowing this accumulated load of graft to be piled upon him. 
You are worse than somewhat dull or you would not so 
tamely submit to the impositions of the hordes of local trusts. 
These grafters now hold you in subjection — you bear their 
yoke — they are your tyrants. If you continue to bow beneath 
their oppression, you are not worthy to be free. The laws 
of this country give you the power to suppress the grafters, 
and you have not known enough to use that power. Indi- 
viduals are helpless but organized men can do all things, 
(See pp. A16, A20, A23.) 

Notes for the Song on Page 23. — Roosevelt caused a bolt from the 
Republican convention, claiming that he did so on high moral grounds. 
His claim seems hypocritical, for he made bulldozing, unscrupulous efforts 
to force the Republican Convention to nominate him as a third-term 
candidate for the Presidency. If the Republican party were so bad that 
he as an honest man could no longer endure it, he should not have been 
willing to accept the Republican nomination even though presented on a 
golden platter. 

As President, Roosevelt did a great work in breaking the 
political power of the big trusts, and this work has been still 
more effectively carried on by both Taft and Wilson. Unre- 
strained by the responsibilities of office, Roosevelt seems to 

t(Compiaining of their graft). 



A8 TO AID IN LOWERING 

have lost his balance wheel, to be swayed by personal ambi- 
tions, emotions, and resentments, and, while still calling him- 
self a progressive, to be a reactionary. For he has not been 
pulling in line with other progressives. He divided the pro- 
gressives in the Republican party into fighting factions and 
aroused hatreds among progressives that will scarcely die out 
with the present generation. He was a disruptive force — an 
enemy — in the progressive camp; and one enemy in the camp 
is worse than a dozen on the outside. The harm caused by 
his quarrelsome, disruptive tendencies would seem to counter- 
balance a great part of all the good that he has ever done. 
Wilson has caused no disruption of the progressives in the 
Democratic party, and with Roosevelt's assistance, he will 
probably be able to keep the Republican goat.* 

THE PEOPLE'S GOAT 

When the Packers raised the price of meat, 
The life of your wife was made less sweet. 
Their graft was great, as you did note, 

F"or they stole your coin and got your vote — 
For they stole your coin and got your vote. 
The cries of the poor made a piteous plea, 
But they heeded not in their merry glee — 
How they did gloat o'er the people's goat, 

When the grafters got your coin and your vote ! 

And the butchers formed a local trust — 
The price of their meat must suit their lust. 
They raised the graft with that intent. 

And then to you their bill they sent — 

And then to you their bill they sent. 
They blame it all on the Packers too; 
Their hands are clean — so they tell you 
With a silent laugh at the simple knave 

Who received so little for what he gave. 

Are the times so hard, and is fate so stern, 

That others enjoy what the workers earn? 

Are their shoulders broad and their steps so sure 

That more and more loads are laid on the poor? 

That more and more loads are laid on the poor? 
The graft increased all along the road 
Till it came to you, and you bore the load. 
Will you be good and bear the load 

When the graft increased all along the road? 

*As a reproach that is just even though their actions are excusable, 
it may be said of each of Roosevelt and Taft that, when he was the 
leader of his party, he did little to lower the cost of living or to break 
the political power of the merchants, and that he welcomed local grafters 
as financial supporters. The same reproach has so far applied to Wilson, 
and there are no signs of its removal. 



THE COST OF LIVING A9 

Notes. — Substitute the song given above for that on p. 31. 

All those who bleed the public are grafters. Most mer- 
chants are bloodthirsty grafters. The farmers who belong 
to Associations designed to regulate the price of food, to 
regulate the supply of food, and to order that crops shall be 
left unharvested when that is necessary to maintain high 
prices, — such farmers also are bloodthirsty grafters. The 
grafters work in strings. Each grafter gouges the next, and 
he passes it along. Each blames the other grafters on his 
string for the high prices, but he doesn't forget to add his 
own graft to your bill. If you work for wages or a salary, 
you, poor fellow, cannot pass it along — you and your family 
must be good and bear the whole accumulated load of graft. 

If the people refuse to unite at local elections, they will 
continue to play their enemy's game — continue to maintain 
the rule of the merchants — continue, in effect, to give a long 
string of grafters their votes. The merchants have used their 
money and influence to exclude from Republican, Democratic 
and Citizens' tickets the names of men who would do much 
to suppress their graft.* Though a Citizens' ticket, fathered 
by the merchants, may be useful in fighting the large corpora- 
tions and in abolishing graft in which the merchants are not 
much interested, it cannot break the political power of the 
merchants. To do that, a general organization of the plain 
people is necessary — an organization from which grafters 
and their sympathizers are excluded. The governing com- 
mittee of such an organization could make a slate and nom- 
inate and elect a set of legislative, executive, and judicial 
officials who would break the reign of the merchants, and 
govern the city in the interests of the people. (See pp. A16, 
A20). 

The people of the city should regulate the prices of the 
wholesale and retail merchants of their city. But with such 
officials as are now in office, the people are helpless. They 
must be good and stand quiet and be bled — unable to put any 

*The local trust-folks directly control some newspapers, and they use 
the threat of the loss of advertisements and the threat of the loss of 
patronage as clubs to control the expression of thought in newspapers, 
magazines, and theaters in general. Such indirect means work in harmony 
with the direct means by which the local trusts influence nominations. 



AIO TO AID IN LOWERING 

limit to higher and higher and higher prices. The general 
regulation of retail prices would squeeze out graft all along 
the line. For, if the retail prices of meat were effectively 
regulated in the cities, neither the local butcher nor the packer 
nor the stockman could make excessive profits or put his 
hand into the pockets of other men. 

High retail prices (high compared with the price of labor) 
are caused chiefly by inefficient or dishonest government, 
squandered money, squandered franchises, and the resulting 
excessive taxation, by the excessive profits of producers, 
wholesalers, and retailers, by an excessive number of mer- 
chants, an excessive amount of advertising and free delivery 
and rented store space, by the neglect of the use of upper 
floor and side streets, the exorbitant rates of rent, and too 
high a cost of transportation. The most of these causes have 
been in operation for a long time; and the recent great 
increase in retail prices has been caused chiefly by an increase 
in the profits of producers, wholesalers, retailers, and land- 
lords. The increase in the cost of living has been caused 
chiefly by graft and has kept pace with the increase of the 
combinations and understandings among merchants. It has 
been increasingly easy for the grafters to make a living. They 
have been transferring money from the pockets of other 
people to their own. 

The merchants, except for a short dull season, do not keep a useless 
number of clerks, and they have used the license system to regulate the 
peddlers. Sometimes they have purposely made the license fees so high as 
to drive the peddlers out of business. The merchants should be fought 
with their own weapons and reduced from the condition of masters to 
that of servants. They should be licensed, and their number should be 
so limited that the business will be conducted in the best interests of 
the people. Reduce the number of merchants, and you reduce the store 
space for which the people are paying the rent and also reduce the rate 
of rents. There are now several times more merchants than the people 
need ; and therefore the great majority of the merchants are bloodsuckers. 
The claim of the small merchant that the world owes him a living at his 
trade, is a whine that shows his bloodsucking nature. If the people do 
not need his services as a merchant, let him go back to the land, let him 
plow, saw wood, or break stone for a living, let him be of some use to 
his country, and not be a bloodsucker on his State. All the trade-folks 
are the servants of the public ; and this idea of the best service should 
supersede all conflicting ideas. Only those trade-folks who are the best 



THE COST OF LIVING All 

fitted to serve the public should survive.* 

If the merchants can not afford to keep useless clerks, 
the public can not afford to keep useless merchants. An 
increase in prices allows an increase in the number of mer- 
chants; and then the merchants to make a better living 
combine or have an understanding in order to further increase 
prices. At present there is no limit to progress in this vicious 
circle except the ability of the wage-earners to foot the bills. 
Officials that are the friends of the plain people and not the 
slaves of the landlords and merchants would interfere with 
progress in this circle. The present class of State and city 
officials care less for the people than they do for the grafters. 
Otherwise they would suppress grafting, and prevent the 
giving of short weight and short measure and the sale of 
impure food and the use of deceitful advertisements and adul- 
terations, and they would not allow swindling scheiners to 
flourish. 

Some claim that the increased supply of gold has made it 
harder to earn a living, and insinuate that you should keep 
quiet for you can do nothing. If the price of labor were made 
to correspond with the increased price of necessities, the 
increased supply of gold would make no difference to the 
workingman, for his gains would balance his losses. That 
wages have not so increased shows that some one is inter- 
fering with the process of adjustment, and that in the mean- 
time he is busy taking money from the pockets of the work- 
ing people. That is, you have lost greatly by the rise in the 
price of necessities and gained little by a rise in wages, for 
some one else has been absorbing your share of the benefits 
from the increased supply of gold. Hence the ill effects of 
the increased supply of gold are all included in the effects 
of graft. In every light and from every angle, graft is the 
one great thing that has made it harder for you to earn a 
living. 

If your employer, a manufacturer, made fair profits and paid 



♦Government regulation of the prices of the trusts and wholesale 
and retail merchants would in one direction benefit all farmers, and it 
would especially benefit the large numbers of farmers who do not belong 
to a combination. 



A12 



fair wages ten years ago, and if the increased supply of gold 
has greatly increased his profits without a corresponding in- 
crease in the price of your labor, he is a grafter who is bleeding 
you. But, if his profits have not increased, he cannot greatly 
increase your wages unless at the same time he raises the 
price of his product. If rents and the price of store goods 
have been raised, and this employer's profits have not in- 
creased, some other man and not this employer has put his 
hand into your pockets; and yet sometimes your employer 
also may be a grafter. It is a complex condition, and a 
general rule will not apply to all individuals; but if you wish 
to know "who got your money," notice the classes of people 
that have been making a living with increasing ease — an ease 
that increased with your hardships. Men who make an easy 
living by grafting make life hard for those they bleed. It 
is embarrassing to a grafter to be asked, "How did you get all 
your money?" You and the grafters should be sworn enemies, 
for the grafters prey upon you — "they have got your 
goat!"* 

If the farmers, stockmen, packers, merchants, landlords, certain classes 
of manufacturers, certain other corporations, and the allies of these people 
have been making a living with increasing ease and absorbing more than 
their share of the benefits from the increased supply of gold, this may 
leave but a small share of these benefits for your employer to transfer to 
you. The same benefits can not be absorbed twice, and you can not 
expect to share in benefits that have already been absorbed by someone 
who is not your employer. 

If in each of the large cities the people would unite and 
regulate the prices of the merchants of their city, they would 
squeeze out graft all along the line, and then your employer 
could distribute to you some of the benefits from the increased 
supply of gold; and also you would pay lower prices for 
necessities.* That would be as it should be, for you now re- 
ceive too low wages and pay too high prices. If the graft 
of the merchants were squeezed out, the profits of some manu- 
facturers could be increased at the same time that the retail 
prices of their products are diminished; and all manufacturers 
would gain by the restoration to their workmen of the con- 
tended spirit that comes with easier conditions of living. 

*Men and women of all parties should unite at local elections in an 
anti-graft crusade, temporarily if not permanently, for they can still main- 
tain their party organizations at state and national elections (see p. A20). 



Words by 
WILBUR CARRIER. 



Moderato marcato. 



Music by 
SAMUEL H. SPECK. 



£Eg3=^=^ 



^^ 



im^ 



m^ 



i 



I 



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1. Bryan stole theirgoat <n nine- ty -si.x, 

2. He eloped with me to Ne - braska farm, 

3. The faithful mourned with moans and tears 



And his clan were mixed in a mighty fix — 
Where he pet- ted me and kept from harm. 
The loss of me for six-teen years- 




^Eip^g^^^' EEgElgg^ l^Ez-^-q^-^Eg: 



He had them blind with "a cross of gold," And they didn't know that thay were sold — 
Istayei:!in his fold till I grew old. For in his barn he me did hold — 

They suffered hun - ger. thirst, and cold. But the'Bry - an-barn was a mine of gold— 



Siiiisls^ 







^^iS 



^ 



»f=£ 



n 



Moderato. 



^^ 



'•aw- ^ ^ ^ K i ' i 



D.C. 



Allegro moderato 



And they didn't know that they were sold. 
For in his barn he me did hold. 

But the Bry - an - barn was a mine of gold- 



SSi^ffl^^i^tt 



s 



^^^ 



r T r 



r^r^-^ - 



lUi 



D.C. 



ite the extra line after the 3rd and the 7th verse: "For don't you see that he got me?" 
Copyright 1913 by W il bj p Cm 'P Mi Pt International Copyright secured. 



DARLING OF THE GODS 23 

The Democratic Goat and the Republican Goat 

AND THE Goat Getters. 

Bryan stole their goat in 'ninety-six, 
And his clan were mixed in a mighty fix — 
He had them blind with "a cross of gold," 
And they didn't know that they were sold — 
And they didn't know that they were sold. 

He eloped with me to Nebraska-farm, 
Where he petted me and kept from harm ; 
And I stayed in his fold till I grew old. 

For in his barn he me did hold — 

For in his barn he me did hold. 

The faithful mourned with moans and tears 

The loss of me for sixteen years — 

They suffered hunger, thirst, and cold. 
But the Bryan-barn was a mine of gold — 
But the Bryan-barn was a mine of gold — 

For don't you see that he got me? 

The Teddy folks said it was sin 

For anyone but them to win. 

To win that nomination game. 

Was just the reason why they came — 
Was just the reason why they came. 

When a record bluff did not succeed. 
The Teddy folks made a wild stampede ; 
They corralled me, for of me they had need, 
And sallied forth with the goat in the lead — 
And sallied forth with the goat in the lead. 

Teddy hung to my tail, but stubbed his toes, 
And fell in the ditch, and skinned his nose. 
His loss of skin was sad to see. 

For he "lost his grip," and then lost me — 
For he "lost his grip," and then lost me. 



24 THE DEMON AND THE 

The way was long, but I wandered on 

Till I fed on the grass of Wilson's lawn. 

On such a sight his eyes did gloat — 
Then Wilson got the Republican goat — 
Then Wilson got the Republican goat — 

For don't you see that he got me? 

Scene I. — A room in the home of the clerk. 

(A well-dressed child is playing on the Hoor. She has 
blocks, toys, and a new doll. The clerk is kneeling on 
the Uoor helping the child to make a high pile of the 
blocks. His wife is seated near.) 

Clerk — Isn't Mary growing fast! She is getting to 
be a great, big girl — growing almost as fast as this pile 
of blocks! Isn't that a high pile? {Mary topples the 
pile over, and they both laugh.) There it goes! 

Mary — I can make a big, high pile alone. 

Clerk (rising) — See if you can't beat me. Where 
shall we go to-morrow afternoon, Clara? 

Wife — O, let's go to the beach where Mary can play 
in the sand. It will do her good. 

Clerk — Yes, and I will get her a little spade and a tin 
pail. That will make her happy. 

(A devil-lawyer enters having the appearance of an 
eminently respectable lazvyer except that he has short 
horns. The wife rises.) 

Clerk — The devil-lawyer again ! I thought Dr. Pills- 
bury had buried you. 

Devil — Not at all. That was my brother. 

Clerk — It seems that when you kill one devil, 'steen 
come to his funeral. 

Devil — It was always so. It always will be so as long 
as we have that privilege. I come to avenge my brother's 
death. 



DARLING OF THE GODS 25 

Wife (holding up her hands) — Lands alive! 

Devil — Be composed, madam. I am harmless. This 
is only a friendly chat. I called to see you because you 
are friends of the Dutchman. You know I reveal the 
past, the present, and the future. 

Wife — How do you do it? 

Devil — O, it comes natural. Let us be seated. (The 
wife takes a seat near her husband.) The past you know, 
and as for the present, I have turned missionary — a 
progressive missionary. 

Clerk — That is contrary to precedent. 

(The mascot goat comes in. The ivife calls it, and 
keeps it near her.) 

Devil — This is a precedent-breaking age. I was one 
of the orginal progressives in the days of Adam and Eve. 
I'm just as progressive as the parsons. They make 
progress in one direction, and I make progress in the 
opposite direction. There is a difference of direction, 
but the idea is the same. Parsons and devils both — 
the live ones — keep up with the age. I myself keep a 
little — a few minutes — ahead of the age. 

Clerk — I'm afraid you are trying to get ahead of me. 

Devil — Not at all — not just at present. I was always 
a progressive. I have been a lawyer since the dawn of 
history, and now that I have added the arts of the 
missionary to my other accomplishments — that still 
shows progress. 

Clerk — You can't convert me. 

Devil — I am after nobler game. Some people call the 
packers and the oil-trust, the steel-trust, the harvester- 
trust, the tobacco-trust, the Board of Trade, and the 
Stock Exchange people, reactionaries. That is a mis- 
take. Such men are really progressives — after my own 
heart. Who can excell them in the gentle art of trans- 
ferring money from other people's pockets to their own? 
I tell you they have made a science of their trade — they 
make progress — they hire shrewd lawyers — they are 
up-to-date. 



26 THE DEMON AND THE 

The real reactionaries are the common people and the 
small traders. They are dead weights. They shout and 
call themselves progressives, but do nothing. Progress 
is not a matter of sentiment, but of action. 

(The clerk and his wife rise.) 

Clerk — Yes, but I don't see how that makes you a 
missionary. 

Devil (rises) — My grand field of missionary effort — a 
field that is white to the harvest — is among these small 
traders. I intend to convert them all — to form them 
all into local trusts — to make them all progressives — 
after my own heart. Some 'steen thousands of my 
assistants will buzz this into the ear of every merchant 
in the land: You are an old fogy — you are not making 
the money you aught to — wake up — be progressive — 
learn this up-to-date motto of mine. Combination is the 
life of trade — see the money the big trusts are making — 
come, form a local trust. " 

Some parsons make a thousand converts in a year — 
I will make a million. Soon I will have a big Bible 
Class; and when I do, many things will be avenged, 
many of my brethren will get good fees, and you and 
that Dutchman will need two mascots. (Bows politely 
and leases.) 

Wife — These devil-lawyers are just terrible! 

Clerk — I am glad that he is not after us. 

Wife — I just believe he will convert the merchants, 
and set the merchants after us. 

Clerk — There is no way to stop him. Dr. Pillsbury 
says that this devil hasn't any appendix. 

•The "easy money" made by the big trusts has been a powerful in- 
centive to the formation of local trusts. Some who once were good 
people became envious at the prosperity of the wicked, and turned to the 
worship of the "golden calf." 

jTo some people it seems useless to attempt to punish or to restrain 
a local trust formed by merchants that have no organization except an 
understanding with reference to the maintenance of prices. But, in rvality, 



DARLING OF THE GODS 27 



Scene II. — A lawyer's office. 

(A dcvil-lazvyer sits at his table, and a number of 
grocers are seated opposite him in Bible Class style.) 

Devil. — I do not suppose that anyone of you is in busi- 
ness for his heahh. If there should be such a one, let him 
signify it by raising his right hand. Not one? That is 
strange ! If now anyone of you would like to double 
his profits, let him signify it by the same sign. Every 
hand raised ? Unanimous vote ! 

Now that we understand one another, we are in a 
position to come to business. You would like to double 
your profits, and so would everyone who has the chance, 
but most people haven't the chance. You are in a better 
position than they, for you can afiford to hire a good 
lawyer to give you good advice. If you are only wise 
enough to follow your lawyer's advice after you pay for 
it, your fortune is made. 

You have been fighting one another to get trade. Stop 
it. What one of you gains in such a fight another loses, 
and then you take your turn in being the loser. You 
are all engaged in the same trade. Treat your fellow 
merchant as a brother. Cease your fighting. Combine 
for your mutual interests. 

If you combine, and gradually increase your prices, 
you can charge high prices and still hold your trade, 
for the public will have no where else to go. The public 
can thus be educated to paying high prices. You can 
put everything on the consumer. He has to stand it. 

Get your children to figure out for you how much 
more money you can make by combination than by com- 
petition. A small increase in the selling price makes an 
astonishing increase in your profits, for your expenses 



28 THE DEMON AND THE 

remain the same. Your little school-girl can see that if 
you now make a profit of five cents a pound, and should 
increase your selling price by only five cents, you would 
double your profits. 

(The devil rises and passes tzvo pictures to the grocers. 
The grocers excmiine the pictures in turn.) 

Devil — Look at these pictures. Take your time. Com- 
pare the pictures, and pass them along. The first pic- 
ture shows a cottage — an ordinary town cottage — you 
have seen thousands of them. The second picture shows 
a brownstone house. You now live in the cottage. It is 
your own fault that you do not live in the brownstone 
house. If you follow my advice, you can take your 
choice of a brownstone house in the city or a fine estate 
in the country ; and some of you will have both. Most 
of you are middle-aged, and have passed your life in a 
struggle to get a start in business and a foothold in so- 
ciety. If you form a combination, your business and 
the position of your family in society will both be se- 
cure ; and you can start your sons in business without 
obliging them to go through the fierce struggle through 
which their father passed. 

I have another engagement now. Step into the next 
room, and talk the matter over among yourselves; and 
I want to see all of you here again next Thursday night 
at 8 :30. So endeth the reading of the lesson. 

(The devil hows to the grocers as they go into the next 
room, and after the door is closed he walks hack and 
forth and rubs his hands together.) 

Devil — My first Bible Class ! They are apt pupils. 
Soon I will have a dozen classes in this city, and then 
my profits will be more than doubled. ^ 



DARLING OF THE GODS 29 



ACT V. 

the; people's goat. 

The zvife and child are shozvn in another and poorer 
home of the clerk. The child is holding a broken doll, 
and both mother and child are dressed in poorer clothing. 
The clerk enters, and the child runs to him. He tosses 
the child into the air. 

Clerk — You must be a good girl, Mary, all day till 
I come back. See how much you can help mamma. Take 
your little broom and sweep the floor. 

Mary — I swept this floor all over yesterday. 

Clerk — That is good. See if you can sweep it better 
to-day. Soon you will be a big girl, and then you can 
help mamma make the beds. (Speaks to his zvife.) 
This flat is not so comfortable as our old home, but we 
will get along. 

Wife — I have some bad news, Edward, to tell you 
before you go, but I didn't like to speak about it before 
breakfast. We may not be able to keep this flat. Our 
landlord has raised our rent ten dollars a month. 

Clerk — That is awful! 

Wife — 1 believe he gave us the cheaper rent for the 
first month just to get us in here. 

Clerk — That was a trick of his — but what can we do? 
If we tear up and pay the cost of moving, the next 
landlord might treat us the same way. 

I wonder when these raises will ever cease! They 
must cease soon or we won't be able to live. When I 
ate lunch yesterday, they charged me a dollar for two 
hard-boiled eggs. Those eggs tasted as though I were 
eating money, but I'll carry my lunch to-day. 



30 THE DEMON AND THE 

Wife — Yes, but the grocer charges me twenty-five 
cents apiece for eggs. Do you remember, Edward, what 
that devil-lawyer said ? I believe he has got every store- 
keeper in this town to join his Bible Class ! 

Clerk — That is true of most of them, and yet every 
storekeeper swears that the big trusts are to blame. 

Wife — The big trusts and the little trusts all are to 
blame ! They are all grafters ! They are all getting 
rich by grafting! But the graft that makes one family 
rich makes many families poor! 

Clerk — If there were some way of regulating the 
trusts, they wouldn't hurt us. The trusts would reduce 
the cost of living if they would give the public half 
of what is saved by the combinations. But as long as 
the trust-folks charge as high prices as they please, we 
will be bled to death. The local trusts are the worst. 
Most of these are simply bloodthirsty schemes to raise 
prices without any economy in operation. That is what 
hurts. 

And then, the trusts are not the only ones that are 
getting rich at our expense. Do you remember the fees 
that the devil-lawyer talked about? His brethren must 
be getting rich organizing local trusts and giving them 
good advice. 

Wife — That devil is the cause of all our troubles. I'd 
like to get his goat! We can never pay our bills unless 
I go to work in a restaurant. 

Clerk — No, don't do that. I will ask the boss for a 
raise. Well, good-by, pet, it is time to start for the office. 

(Kisses his wife and child, takes his lunch, and leaves.) 

The curtain falls, and then rises showing the wife at 
the front of the stage. She wears an apron and holds 
her child by the hand, and the child holds a broken doll. 
The wife sings.) 



DARLING OF THE GODS 31 



The People's Goat. 

When the Packers raised the price of meat, 
The Hfe of your wife was made less sweet. 
Their graft was great, as you did note, 

For they stole your coin and got your goat — 
For they stole your coin and got your goat. 
The cries of the poor made a piteous plea, 
But they heeded not in their merry glee. 
How they did gloat o'er the people's goat, 
When they got your coin and your vote ! 

The butchers formed a local trust. 
For the price of meat was not high enough — 
They increased the graft two hundred per cent. 
And then to you their bill they sent — 
And then to you their bill they sent. 
They blamed it all on the Packers too — 
Their hands are clean — so they tell you — 
The graft increased all along the road 
Till it came to you, and you bore the load. 

Will you be good and bear the load, 
When the graft increased all along the road ? 

(The clerk enters, and the child runs to him. He kisses 
her and then holds her hand.) 

Clerk — Clara, the boss said that he couldn't afford 
to raise my wages now. They have raised his house 
rent fifty dollars, his office rent one hundred dollars, and 
his barn rent twenty-five dollars a month ; and then he 
has to pay one hundred dollars a ton now for straw to 
feed his horses. He hasn't raised his price this year for 
delivering trunks, and says that, as for him, he will go 
out of business before he will join any Devil's Bible 
Class. 

Wife — Then I must work in a restaurant. 

Clerk — I hate to see you do it, but with these high 
prices we will be turned out of house and home unless 
you do. 



32 THE DEMON AND THE 

(The curtain falls, and then rises showing the wife and 
child. Tzvo zvashtuhs are on a bench. A scrubbing board 
is in one tub, and a zvringer is attached to the other tub. 
The wife is passing Chinese and Japanese clothes through 
the wringer, and letting them fall into a basket. She 
then hangs the clothes on a line stretched across the rear 
of the room.) 

Mary — Mama, fix my dolly's dress. It's torn most 
off. 

Wife — I can't do it to-day, dear. I'm too busy. 

Mary (turning away)— Mama doesn't love me any 
more. 

Wife — Sure, mama does love her baby! but I'm so 
busy! 

(The clerk enters.) 

Clerk — Why, Clara, are you washing on Sunday? and 
where in the world did you get those Chinese clothes? 

Wife — Sunday is the only time I have to wash now, 
and then I am taking in washing. I had to do it. The 
grocery bills are so high that we can never pay them 
unless I do. 

Clerk — Will there be no end to these higher and higher 
prices ! If we had half a dozen children to support, 1 
would go and jump into the sea ! 

Wife — Would that help me any? 

Clerk — No, it wouldn't, and so I wouldn't do it. But 
I would feel that way. It costs so much to live, and 
things are getting so bad that something must break 
soon. 

Wife — We have some new neighbors on the next 
street. They are rich Japanese and Chinese. The Japs 
became rich by raising bunch vegetables, and the China- 
men by raising potatoes. They imitated the Americans 
and formed local trusts — a regular Celestial Bible class ! 
They say that sometimes they made more money when 
they didn't gather their crops than when they did ; but 
I don't see how they could do that — do you? 



DARLING OF THE GODS 33 



Clerk — Yes, I know how that was done. Some people 
paid for vegetables that they didn't get. 

Wife — That must be it. See the bill that the grocer 
sent me. Is it any wonder that I have to do the China- 
man's washing? 

Clerk (reads the hill)—]/^' lb. butter, $1.40; 1 lb. ap- 
ples, 30c ; 3 lbs. sugar, 30c ; ^ lb. loaf of bread, 25c ; 
}i lb. boiled ham, $1.00; 1 beat, 20c. 

(Drops the hill and tears his hair.) That grocer be- 
longs to the Devil's Bible Class for sure ! We will have 
to live on sugar and water ! When I was a boy a woman 
was extravagant if she put too much sugar in her apples ; 
and now she is extravagant if she uses too many apples 
with her sugar! 

(The mascot goat comes in.) 

Clerk — Ah, our mascot. (Pets the goat.) Our good 
friend, the Dutchman, says that his mascot has helped 
him in all his troubles, and that ours will help us too. 

(The child plays zvith the goat.) 

Wife — We certainly are in a sea of trouble. Maybe 
we will need the two mascots that the devil-lawyer talked 
about. The government doesn't seem to be doing much 
to break up the Devil's Bible Class. 

Clerk (zvearily) — No, nobody don't do nothing neither. 

Wife — Ask the President to do something to help us. 

Clerk — He is looking after the big trusts, and it is 
the little trusts that are bleeding us to death. The little 
trusts take a dollar out of your pocket where the big 
trusts would not have the unspeakable assurance to take 
more than ten cents. And then, there are so many little 
trusts ! They bleed me here, and there, and everywhere ! 
and they all say, "You won't notice it, and it means so 
much to us." Just as though a nickel were not worth 
more to me than to a member of the Bible Class ! 



34 THE DEMON AND THE 



Our butcher joined the Baptists just to get the church 
trade. He is a church member, takes up the collection, 
teaches a Sunday school class, and grafts on the Sunday 
school children. His partner plays the same kind of a 
game in the Presbyterian church. 

Wife — Yes, and I believe that on week days they both 
are local class leaders in the Devil's Bible Class ! They 
pretend to be friends and act like enemies! The cost 
of living is getting higher and higher for us, while the 
storekeepers are getting richer and richer! They are 
building fine houses, and we are moving to a poor flat! 
We must get their goat, or they will get ours ! Ask con- 
gress to do something about it. 

Clerk — That wouldn't do any good, either. The con- 
stitution won't let congress meddle with the local trusts, 
and then few of these politicians want to use even their 
influence in our favor. For the local trusts are the 
friends and "financial angels" of most of the big poli- 
ticians who pose as the champions of the people. The 
government and the big politicians with all of their 
cudgelling of the big trusts are only scratching the sur- 
face of things. They don't help me any. 

Wife — Then ask the governor, the legislature, and the 
mayor. 

Clerk (excitedly pacing the floor) — Useless ! — the local 
trusts and city clubs select most of these men, pay their 
nomination expenses, pay their election expenses, and 
then own them. This State is plastered over with local 
trusts. It is like a large animal covered with blood- 
suckers. When the animal became restless, the other 
bloodsuckers combined against a big one and threw it 
over so that they could continue to suck blood in peace. 
When the animal again became restless, they threw over 
as many of the little bloodsuckers as was necessary. 
Those that did the throwing-over were not working so 
much for the interests of the animal as for the highest 
good of the surviving bloodsuckers. 

tThey have been too busy protecting the little trusts from the big ones 
to do much to lower the cost of living. In making reductions in freight 
and express rates, in the dismemberments of the big trusts, and in build- 
ing highways, the government works more in the interests of the local 
trusts than in the interests of the people. For neither the national gov- 
ernment nor the state governments regulate many local trusts (organ- 
ized farmers, manufacturers, merchants) ; and the government calmly al- 
lows these local trusts "to charge all that the traffic will bear" and to 
nhnnrh most of the benefits that should be transferred to the Deoole. 



DARLING OF THE GODS 35 

And so it is in the county and the city. To amuse 
the people, the officials after long delay inspect the 
milk when it comes into the city. Then, to please the 
local trusts, they let them doctor it after it is inspected. 
We should have just weight, full measure, pure food, 
good goods, and fair prices — but we don't. They pass 
laws about these things, and then the merchants see that 
so little money is appropriated, and so few inspectors 
are appointed, that the laws can not be enforced. The 
merchant classes and their allies rule the city and the 
state — rule in their own interests. 

What the officials do for the public amounts to so 
little that the cost of living keeps on increasing. These 
government, state, and city officials are mostly politicians ; 
and a politician is an officeholder who can make a great 
pretense of serving the people, and yet not offend the 
local trusts that put him in office. 

Wife — Then, we have nothing left but our mascot. 
(Runs to the goat and puts her arms about its neck 
and her head against its head.) Now, my mascot, tell 
me what to do. I have nothing left but you. (Rises 
with a bright face.) This is what my mascot told me, 
"Organize the women — they can save you!" 

Clerk— The mascot sets us all right! It is worth its 
weight in gold! and you are my other mascot! Dr. 
Pillsbury could not do it, but I know that the women 
can get that devil-lawyer's goat. 

Wife — Yes, and we will get the goat of every Devil's 
Bible Class in this city! When the women start after 
them, the grafters are lost ! We may yet be free ! 

(The clerk, his wife, and the child join hands and sing. 
The child holds its broken doll. The goat rears at the 
chorus.) 



36 THE DEMON AND THE 

If you are running lame in an uphill game, 
Just keep your nerve and me ! 

The last may be first — 

You may win the purse — 
Just keep your nerve and me ! 
If you lose your sails or your motor fails, 
Just keep your nerve and me! 

If you have pluck 

You can change your luck ! 
Just keep your nerve and me ! 
If in a long glide to earth you slide. 
Just keep your nerve and me ! 

All will soon be right, 

And the future bright — 
Just keep your nerve and me ! 

Hold your grip on hope and your goat! 
Hold your grip on hope and your goat! 
All will soon be right, and the future bright — 
Hold your grip on hope and your goat! 

(The curtain falls, atnd then rises, shonnng a line of 
poorly dressed little boys and girls, zvho sing.) 

They Got the Children's Goat. 

The graft increased all along the road 
Till it came to us, and we bore the load! 
Shall we be good and bear the load, 

When the graft increased all along the road? 

(The curtain falls and then rises, and the children 
repeat the song. The curtain falls, and then rises, show- 
ing the children dressed in bright clothing. The children 
sing, "My County, 'Tis of Thee," and "Columbia, the 
Gem of the Ocean," or some other songs that express 
freedom or triumph. 

The End. 



A13 



THE CHILDREN'S GOAT 

When up to heaven their prices soared 
The grafters touched the poor man's hoard. 
A baser deed you could not quote. 

For the merchants got the children's qroat ! 

The cries of th*; babies made a piteous plea. 
But they heeded not in their merry glee — 
The love of gold their souls possessed — 

The god of gold ruled in their breast.* 

The graft increased all along the road 

Till it came to the babes, and they bore the load. 

Shall they be good and bear the load 

When the graft increased all along the road? 
Note. — Substitute the song given above for that printed on p. 36 for the 
boys and girls to sing; change the title of the song on p. 9 to "The Poor 
Man's Goat"; and use the following as the last verse of the song on p. 9 
instead of the repetition there required : 

When they got the poor man's goat ! 
When they got the poor man's goat ! 
The Packers' camp had Aladdin's lamp, 
When they got the poor man's goat ! 

Insert the following after the 18th line of p. 33: We are in need 
of something. Someone must do something soon. Even the store clerks 
seem to despise us for allowing ourselves to be imposed upon. The 
higher the prices go, the more uncivil the clerks become. I am beginning 
to believe that American men and women both are lacking in spirit. 

Wife — Yes, the American woman is lacking in spirit ! She lets the store- 
keeper set his heel upon her neck, and sweetly closes her eyes in meek 
submission when he shakes his finger in her face and tells her, "Now, 
don't you knock" — all because you men do nothing to right these 
wrongs ! 

Clerk — That is true, Clara, but what can one man do? 

Substitute the following at the bottom of p. 35: "Organize the men 
and women, and you can save yourselves!" 

Clerk — The mascot sets us all right! It is worth its weight in gold! 
and you are my other mascot ! I know that organized men and organized 
women can get that devil-lawyer's goat. 

Wife — Yes, we will fight the devil with fire, fight combination with 
combination, and we will get the goat of every Devil's Bible Class in this 
city ! When the women start after them, all the grafters are lost ! We 
shall yet be free ! 

*The love of gold breeds grafters. It makes men base — so base that 
they take the bread from the mouths of the children. The love of gold 
is the root of all evil. It excuses all evil. It makes men hypocrites. It 
crushes out the feeling of honor, the feeling of pity, the feeling of shame — 
even the feeling that decent treatment is due one's fellowmen. 



AI4 TO AID IN LOWERING 

GENERAL NOTES 

The Farce in Act I, the Comedy in Acts II and III, the 
Social Problem Play in Acts IV and V, and the satire in the 
Notes form, though each in a somewhat different way, an 
attack upon the stronghold of the grafters. Their stronghold 
must be taken, or the grafters can not be suppressed. Words 
alone are of no effect; but words that strike the right chord 
may rouse the people to an organized attack upon that strong- 
hold. Those who can answer the question, "Who rule this 
country?", can give you a description of the stronghold of 
your enemy. 

This drama does not champion or oppose either the suffra- 
gists or the anti-suffragists; and yet it is in line with some of 
the ideas of the earnest workers of both these organizations, 
for it advocates an increase of the activities of the women in 
social affairs. High prices bear more heavily upon the women 
than upon the men, and the women should take a leading part 
in throwing of¥ the yoke. Non-political organizations of 
women have before now crushed the short-weight and short- 
measure people; and what the women have done once they 
can do again, and more also. To forget political differences 
and to unite in a general effort to lower the cost of living, 
is all that is necessary. 

This is not a Socialist play, and it is not written in the 
interests of the trusts. Yet, it is in line with one of the most 
important ideas of the Socialists, for it is designed to make 
the life of the laborer, the mechanic, and the salaried man 
more worth living. It should appeal to the stockholders of 
the organized trusts, for it advocates the regulation and en- 
couragement (not the suppression or dismemberment) of 
those trusts that promote efficiency. Some large trusts have 
more stockholders than employees; and the majority of the 
people of the United States will soon be directly or indirectly 
interested in the maintenance of some form of a trust. 

There is nothing that should offend the honest merchant, for the mer- 
chant who opposes the abolition of graft acknowledges himself to be a 
grafter or to be one who benefits by the graft of others. If there is free 
competition, merchants may justifiably be allowed to fix their own prices. 



THE COST OF LIVING A15 

If the merchants form what arc practically local trusts, this privilege of 
fixing their own prices becomes a graft — it is not righteous— it is an impo- 
sition upon the public. Those who favor graft because it benefits their 
trade — because it makes business better — because they can pick up some 
crumbs from the table of the grafters, — such people are as bad as the 
grafters themselves. 

This question of graft will divide suffragists, anti-suffragists, 
Republicans, Democrats, and the so-called Progressive party, 
each and all into opposing forces. The most of the rank and 
file of each of these organizations are honest and opposed to 
graft; but the most of the influential members and the most 
of those in positions of authority either benefit by graft or 
are influenced by grafters, and therefore will fight for the 
continuance of graft. The local trusts (merchants and organ- 
ized farmers chiefly) have a strong hold on each of these 
organizations. Each of these organizations except the anti- 
suffragists has been in control of states, counties, and cities; 
and the fact that these organizations have not done much to 
suppress the graft of the local trusts or to lower the cost of 
living, is their great condemnation. Those women whose fine 
feathers are provided by a grafting father or a grafting hus- 
band will naturally not be enthusiastic in the suppression of 
graft. Hence, of the women as now organized, the smaller 
portion in number but the greater portion in present influence 
must be counted enemies. The abolition of graft will be a 
great reform, and a reform that can be made without much 
interference with other work; for, if the new organizations 
designed to fight graft are non-political, they will not neces- 
sarily disrupt any of the present political, religious, or social 
organizations of men or women. 

This new organization of women should be different from 
existing organizations. It should be non-political to the 
extent that it will not attempt to supersede any existing 
political party. Its object should be the lowering of the cost 
of living by the abolition of all forms of graft. It should unite 
in one organization all those women who sincerely believe in 
the reduction by law of the grafting prices now charged by 
trusts and merchants, and in the punishment of those who 



A 16 TO AID IN LOWERING 

give short weight or short measure, or sell impure food or 
perniciously adulterated products, or use false or misleading 
advertisements. 

Also, those men (including the honest class of merchants) 
who wish to abolish graft should form organizations designed 
to assist the women's organization. The men should direct 
their attention especially to short weight, short measure, 
impurities, adulterations, and the regulation of the prices 
charged by the big trusts. 

Such organizations of men and women could force the pas- 
sage of laws for the appointment of commissions with power 
to reduce grafting prices. They could strengthen the present 
laws relating to short weight, short measure, and adultera- 
tions; and, since present officials as a class can not be trusted, 
they could employ their own lawyers and use their own 
money to enforce these laws. They could make it illegal for 
the local trusts to use money to influence nominations or 
elections. They could prevent the election, or force the re- 
moval, of judges and other officials that were selected by the 
local trusts and that are too much under the influence of 
these trusts.* 

A man can not be elected unless he has been nominated. A 
wealthy and popular man may sometimes force his own nom- 
ination, but, if the position is important, a man does not 
usually secure the nomination at either a caucus or a special 
election unless he has been brought forward by some clique 
(good or bad). Before conventions or caucuses assemble, or 
before the nominees are selected by the votes of the people, 
the local trusts frequently form the cliques that make the 
slates, and determine in advance the candidates of each prom- 
inent party. Thus the local trusts (for they are organized 
or have an understanding), and not the people (for they are 



*They should supersede the present cliques that determine nomina- 
tions — supersede the present power behind the throne. 

Are you wage-earners important financial supporters of the leading 
political parties? Have you now much influence with these parties? Are 
your interests protected? Do you wish to have them protected? 



THE COST OF LIVING A17 

unorganized), now take the initiative in the selection of the 
candidates. These non-political organizations of men and 
women could exercise a veto-power with reference to the 
insertion of names upon these slates, and thus make their 
influence felt at what is really one of the most important 
proceedings connected with an election. 

The public has been plundered by trusts big and little 
because it has opposed organized forces with unorganized 
forces. It should fight the devil with fire. It should form a 
general organization to lower the cost of living. It should 
bring for itself the dawn of a better day (see pp. A7, A9, A23). 

The age of competition has nearly passed, and not even a czar or a 
mikado could force its return. You can lead a horse to water but you 
cannot make him drink ; and you cannot make two merchants compete 
against their will. Any scheme that proposes the dismemberment of all 
the trusts is an idle dream. That is impracticable. Many of the most 
iniquitous trusts, the local trusts, have no organization save an under- 
standing that can not be reached by law. Trying to lower the cost of 
living by the dismemberment of the trusts is like the vain attempt to get 
hold of the coat tail of a demon that has no coat. This talk of dismem- 
berment, though an injury to the trusts affected, is really an aid at present 
to the trusts as a class, for it postpones the day when the law will reduce 
their grafting prices. Earning a living can be made easier by lowering 
the price of necessities as measured by the pri«e of labor and by increasing 
the demand for labor. Dismemberment has failed to do either of these 
things. 

A trust that is not a grafting trust may be a good thing. 
Without the economies instituted by the large trusts, this 
country could not continue its prosperity, for in some im- 
portant lines it could not continue its competition with rival 
nations. The trusts are a necessary development of the 
present age. He who opposes all trusts because they are 
trusts is trying to live in a past age. A consideration of 
the very large number of people who are directly or indi- 
rectly interested in the maintenance of trusts, will clearly 
show that the American people favor trusts and will not 
abolish them. To cut out as many middlemen as possible 
and to have one trust control, so far as possible, all the 
operations in the production and sale of a given article, is 
frequently economical, and should be encouraged provided 



A18 



that a fair share of the savings be given to the public. The 
price of such an article could readily be regulated by law. 
The trouble is that the prices charged by the trusts have 
not usually been regulated by law. The organized trusts 
are the creatures of the State, and should divide with the 
public the benefits derived from their combinations. In most 
cases, the trusts themselves have pocketed all the benefits 
and in addition have bled the public with their grafting prices. 
Unregulated trusts are an injury. Trusts that promote effi- 
ciency and whose prices are regulated by law would be a 
benefit to the nation. The dismemberment of the big trusts 
has not done much to lower the cost of living; and this 
would indicate that the government in its cudgelling of the 
big trusts has hitherto worked more in the interests of the 
little trusts than in the interests of the people. The high 
cost of living and the pressure of public opinion will finally 
force the national government to regulate the prices of all 
the trusts that do an interstate business, and force the local 
governments to regulate the local trusts. Otherwise, "After 
us the deluge." 

To reduce the cost of living for future generations, the 
national resources should be conserved in spite of the clamor 
of local newspapers and politicians influenced by greedy 
local interests. 

The government has done some good by its reductions of 
railroad and express rates, but the greater portion, probably, 
of these reductions has been or will be absorbed by the pro- 
ducers and middlemen; for the producers and middlemen 
have not been regulated, and they and their organizations 
usually "charge all that the traffic will bear." 

Without offending the local trusts, legislators can provide 
(as has been done in Europe) for the loan of money to 
farmers at low rates of interest, for the construction of good 
roads, and for the instruction of farmers in better methods of 
agriculture. Such legislation will assist in lowering the cost 
of living; but again the greater portion of the benefits will 
be absorbed by the farmers and middlemen, while the most 
of the benefits from the abolition of the graft of the mer- 
chants will go directly to the consumers. 



A19 



If two men who are competitors in the operation of stage 
lines should grasp the new-thought idea that Combination 
is the life of trade, and should cease their competition and 
form a combination, such a partnership, association, or com- 
pany would be a combination in restraint of trade. Whether 
such restraint of trade is reasonable or unreasonable is a 
question for the courts to decide. If, instead of forming a 
partnership or organization, the stage owners should have 
an understanding with reference to the maintenance of high 
prices, then they would be members of what is practically 
a combination in restraint of trade. 

An association of merchants ostensibly formed for other 
purposes, but which to a great extent suppresses competition 
is also a combination in restraint of trade; and merchants 
that have merely an understanding with reference to the main- 
tenance of high prices are members of what practically is 
a local trust, a combination in restraint of trade, a Devil's 
Bible Class. These combinations and restraints of trade 
by merchants are merciless and unreasonable; and wage- 
earners who buy food are unwise in that they have done 
nothing in self-defense against the assaults of such com- 
binations. As for the farmers, when they form an associa- 
tion designed to limit the supply of food and to maintain 
high prices for food, they form the banner Devil's Bible 
Class — their father's pride.* 

The big trust-folks and the local trust-folks who are bleed- 
ing the public with their grafting prices know that the 
people will soon rise in wrath and crush their oppressors in 
one way if not in another. Therefore the grafters are striving 
with feverish haste to make hay while the sun shines — to 
make their fortunes quickly. "After us the deluge." 

In every large political party, there are wheels within 
wheels, and parties within parties, and various cliques that 
control the party so far, at least, as its actions concern the 
cliques. The wage-earners are not organized into any politi- 
cal clique, but are divided into factions called Republicans, 
Democrats, Socialists, Prohibitionists, union men, non-union 
men, etc. In this condition the wage-earners are helpless 

*A corporation has no soul. A farmers' Association designed to make 
the wage-earners pay extortionate prices for food has no shadow of a 
soul — nothing that can show the feeling of pity. 



A20 TO AID IN LOWERING 

and are obliged to pay any prices for food and other necessi- 
ties that the greed of the grafters may fix.f In self defense 
the wage-earners should unite and form a Food Buyers' 
Association in each city, and thus acquire a political influ- 
ence equal at least to that of the food producers and mer- 
chants and their allies. These Associations should nominate 
and elect city and county officials who would be strictly non- 
partisan; and the laws relating to the liquor traffic, union 
labor, socialism, etc., should be determined by the votes of 
the people. Thus, the Republicans, Democrats, Socialists, 
Prohibitionists, etc., could maintain their party organizations 
at national and State elections and in voting for or against 
city laws that affect their various interests; and yet the mem- 
bers of all these parties who are also members of the local 
Food Buyers' Association could unite in the nomination 
and election of these non-partisan officials. 

The producers (including farmers) and the middlemen 
(including retail merchants) are to a great extent organized 
for the purpose of manipulating and limiting supplies of 
food and other necessities and of maintaining such prices 
as will enable them year by year to absorb the greatest 
amount of money. Some merchants have been publicly 
accused of destroying food to maintain high prices, and some 
farmers are as bad. Most legislators care so little for your 
interests that they do not try to enact laws that would 
would make grafting and the destruction of food in order 
to maintain high prices, illegal. The laws should not allow 
a combination in restraint of trade to take advantage of a 
scarcity to increase its prices to any greater extent than is 
necessary to balance the increase in its expenses. t Utterly 
unwarrantable high prices in a time of scarcity are common; 
but the men that make them and the laws that favor them 
and the legislators that make such laws are all unrighteous. 

To raise the price of land because food sells at a high 
price in the city, and then to raise the price of food because 

fThe grafting merchant and the grafting farmer may be in clover when 
the wage-earner feels the pinch of hard times. Is that so now? 

+Since a trust has no soul, an appeal to either an interstate or a local 
trust in the name of common, everyday honesty is useless. Fear and 
force are the only levers that will budge a trust ; and a farmers' trust is 
no exception to the rule. 



THE COST OF LIVING A21 



the price of land has raised, is to run in a vicious circle. 
Someone profits by such operations in lands and rents, but 
it is not the man who works for wages. The regulation in 
the cities of the wholesale and retail prices of food would 
interfere with perpetual motion in that circle. A farmer 
who is a grafter at all is usually a bad one — the devil's own 
child. If the farmers, planters, ranchers, stockmen, gar- 
deners, beekeepers, fruit-growers, chicken-raisers, and their 
allies form organizations designed to limit supplies and to 
maintain high prices for food in the cities, then the city 
people who are not grafters should form counter organiza- 
tions and force the city governments to maintain reasonable 
prices for food.* For, since self defense is the first law of 
nature, organizations of the food buyers will be the natural 
result of the organizations of the farmers and merchants. 
At the city market the interests of the farmer and those of 
the wage-earner clash. To a great and constantly increasing 
extent, the city market is manipulated by organized grafters, 
and the wage-earner foots the bill. 

In the days of free competition, the merchants and farmers 
fixed their own prices, that is nominally, but in reality prices 
were fixed by competition. After they have suppressed com- 
petition, the action of the merchants and farmers in fixing 
their own prices is an imposition upon the public. Merchants 
and farmers who first conspire to suppress competition and 
then conspire to fix high prices are thieves. When they con- 
spire further to fix higher and higher prices, they are 
merciless, iniquitous thieves. These men are sinners not 
because they formed a combination, but because they first 
formed what is practically a combination and then conspired 
to maintain high prices and now conspire to prevent the 
regulation of their rates. When the State is plastered with 
local trusts, when competition is strangled, when prices are 
fixed not by competition but by the greed of conspirators 
against the public, the claim of the local trust-folks that they 
should have the right to fix their own prices shows that they 
are unfair in their dealings, that they are the enemies of the 
public, that they are unrighteous men. 

*In using songs for religious purposes, the churches fight the devil 
with fire — fight the devil with one of his own weapons; and the wage- 
earners also should fight the devil with fire — fight combination with 
combination. 



A22 TO AID IN LOWERING 

Oh these grafters! Oh these oppressors of the people! 
How great is their iniquity! How great their meanness! 
Their oppression falls with crushing force on the poor and the 
sick, the orphan and the widow. They take the bread from 
the mouth of the children. The wage-earners, the salaried 
men, and all those who put the love of humanity above the 
love of gold should make immediate and full use of their 
political power to crush the bloodsucking local trusts that 
make the cost of existence high.f 

The twentieth century is thus far the age of the grafters — • 
an age in which graft has been reduced to a science, and 
fortified by laws and organizations and social and political 
influences, and heartlessly and unscrupulously employed in 
all the devious ways that "good" lawyers can devise. If the 
twentieth-century grafter has a conscience, its low voice is 
hushed in the clamor, the trade sophistries, and the wild 
money scramble of the age. As long as the grafters make 
an easy living and are undisturbed, they care little for the 
plain people. If the government were good, it would sup- 
press grafting, but this government is run in a dishonest and 
wretchedly inefficient way. The theory on which the gov- 
ernment is founded is good, but the theory is reduced to 
practice in a bad way because officials are bad, and because 
the power behind the throne is bad. There will be no great 
improvement so long as executive, legislative, and judicial 
officials do so little to improve the condition of the people 
and do so much to keep their political fences in repair — do so 
much to please those who now rule this country. 

The next age must be an age of regulation, and wage- 
earners should use all their political power to hasten tjie 
coming of that age. The wage-earners can rule the cities 
if they will; but divided into factions, they are bound and 
helpless in the presence of their enemy, the organized grafters. 
If you will not unite, you will be the slaves of the farmers 
and merchants. The wage-earners will do the hard work, 
and someone else will spend their wages for automobiles. 

tThe love of gold (plain covetousness) is the chief cause of unreason- 
able combinations in restraint of trade. It makes well-to-do people envious 
of the workingmen with their pay envelopes. It makes dealers in necessi- 
ties dip covetous fingers deep into those envelopes. It makes that grafter, 
the liquor-man, so piggish that he is dissatisfied with the portion of a 
workingman's wages that he can get in six days a week. 



THE COST OF LIVING A23 

The conclusion of the Farce (p. 12) represents the present 
condition of the public in your city, your State, and your 
country. The devil has got the people's goat! The public 
is oppressed and bled by the merchants, for the merchants 
as a class make the people suffer by reason of short weight, 
adulterations, false advertisements, and grafting prices. The 
social and political influence of the merchants protects them 
in their crime. Those who bleed you, those who prey upon 
you and your families are your enemies, and you should be 
theirs. Why continue so long and so tamely to submit to 
their thefts? Will you be the mud on the cart wheel? 

If the merchants and farmers, to enrich themselves by 
bleeding you, form combinations in restraint of trade, are you 
not foolish to stand quiet and be bled? Are you not very 
accommodating to your enemy? You are worse than some- 
what dull, or you would already have united to repel the 
assaults directed against yourselves, your wages, and your 
families. If you are men, fight in your own self defense and 
fight effectively. Fight as those who expect to win. If you 
would win, unite. If you would win, be broad-minded enough 
to sink your differences at local elections. If you would win, 
learn this simple truth, "Individuals are helpless, but organized 
men can do all things." If you would win, take a lesson from 
your enemy, organize, form local Associations through which 
you can fight the devil with fire and select and elect officials 
with a conscience — officials who will govern the cities in the 
interests of the people. 

Some men teach that this is a free country, and that in a 
free country there is no right of rebellion or revolution and 
no place for the theories of the anarchists; for the majority 
of the people have in the ballot a means by which they can 
express their will and peacefully make all needed reforms. 
That is true. But when these same men denounce on gen- 
eral principles all organizations of the plain people designed 
to make reforms, these men become hypocritical; for if 
the majority of the people are divided, they can not rule this 
country, but the country will continue to be ruled by an 
organized minority that furnish campaign contributions and 
select and control the officeholders. 

The plain people are in the majority, but they are divided, 
and instead of being the rulers they are the ruled, and they 



A24 



are unmercifully bled, and their rights are trampled upon. 
The grafters want to keep the majority quiet as long as 
possible that they may bleed them as long as possible. But 
when the majority become well informed with reference to 
the way in which this country is actually ruled, it will be 
useless for the grafters to try to keep them quiet, and it 
will be necessary to right their wrongs and to lower the 
cost of living. The majority will finally acquire this knowl- 
edge — it is only a question of time — the sooner the better; 
for the bleeding will the sooner be stopped, and the longer 
the delay, the greater the retribution. There is only one 
peaceful means by which this majority can express their 
will, that is, by organization and regulation. The local 
trust-folks should be patriotic enough to submit to regula- 
tion; and even though they care nothing for their country 
they should not heap up wrath that will descend in a deluge 
on their children. Covetousness is the only thing that 
threatens to overthrow the institutions of this country. Un- 
controlled covetousness will lead the grafters so far that 
there will be no retreat. All those who do not put the love 
of gold above their love af country should aid in curbing the 
covetousness of the local trust-folks, for in this way only can 
danger be avoided. 

It is hoped that this book will induce you to use your 
influence in favor of government regulation of the prices of 
the interstate trusts, the local trusts, the wholesale merchants, 
and the retail merchants. 

Those who lower the cost of living by lowering exorbitant 
retail prices will win the favor of the plain people- 

H^ Where do you stand? Whom do you serve? Which 
side will you and your house choose in this conflict? There 
will be no enemies for the anti-graft crusaders to face except 
the grafters and their allies. If you do not benefit by graft 
or sympathize with grafters, if you are not an ally of the 
grafters and would not aid in keeping things quiet and in 
maintaining the present grafting conditions, then aid in 
arousing such a public sentiment that graft will be suppressed 
in one way if not in another. 



DARLING OF THE GODS 3 7 



NOTES. 

ACT I. 

This act is a Farce and also an Allegory. A Dutchman 
of rather a dull type represents the public ; the devil 
represents the evil, grafting spirit that animates the local 
trusts and all those who bleed the public ; and the goat 
is the people's goat. In the first song, the trusts threaten 
to give the public a long period of plain living. The 
injury to the devil's fist indicates that the merchants, 
though temporarily successful, will not finally triumph 
in a battle with their own customers. 

The big stick of the national government has failed to 
have much efitect upon the local trusts, and the fist fight 
at close quarters has been indecisive with the advantage 
decidedly in favor of the merchants, but the contest is 
not yet ended. 

The public is supposed to exercise control over the 
trusts, and thus the devil obeys some unimportant orders 
of the Dutchman. 

Those that form the trusts are in theory the servants 
of the public, and thus the devil makes a pretense of 
aiding the Dutchman in his fight against the world, but 
ends in ridiculing him. 

The hypocritical spirit of the local trusts in putting all 
the blame on some one else, is shown by the remarks 
of the devil that precede and that follow the People's 
Goat song of Act I (see the People's Goat song of 
Act V). 

The story about the wax is not original, but it well 
indicates the avaricious spirit of the trust-folks. The 
plea of the merchants that the public owes all of them a 
living, and that they have a right to do in the future as 
they have done in the past, is another case of "Who has 
got 'mx' wax?" 



38 THE DEMON AND THE 

The story about the goat illustrates the Donnybrook 
fights between the American Colonies, and the peace 
between the States after they became one nation. 

The disadvantage to the nation, caused by the lack 
of a continuous policy in dealing with competing nations, 
is indicated by the Dutchman's fighting against himself. 
The stupidity of the public in their useless divisions (as 
in dividing into warring factions at local elections in- 
stead of uniting to fight their common enemies) is also 
indicated. 

Once upon a time, an admiral, because he was abused 
by a mascot, banished all the mascots from his fleet. 
But the government interfered, for it considered that the 
mascots have a good influence upon the condition of 
the men. 

Sometimes a goat is kept as a companion in the stall 
of a race horse, and the horse in time becomes attached 
to the goat. If the goat is stolen shortly before a race, 
the horse misses his little companion, becomes irritated 
and nervous, and is not in good condition for the race. 
This is said to be the origin of the common expression, 
"He got your goat." 

The conclusion of the Farce represents figuratively the 
present condition of the public. 



ACTS II AND III. 

These acts form a Comedy and also an Allegory. The 
conclusion of the Comedy represents figuratively the 
hoped-for condition of the public. 

The devil-lawyer represents the lawyers that framed 
the organizations of the trust-folks on unscrupulous 
lines. In the play as a whole, the devil represents the 
evil, grafting spirit that made the unscrupulous trust 
lawyers, half-devils, and that makes the local trusts half- 
devilish now. 



DARLING OF THE GODS 39 

The trust-folks should be the servants of the public; 
but a trust prefers to consider that its relations to the 
public are those of a partner (the better half), and it 
tries to act as the master. Therefore the wives of the 
Dutchman are considered to represent the trust-folks. 
The first wife is beguiled by the serpent (the devil-law- 
yer that frames the organizations of the trusts and gives 
them good advice) into forgetfulness of her obligations 
to the Dutchman. This wife after her desertion repre- 
sents the trust-folks after competition has ceased, and 
the trusts, guided by their lawyers, have fixed prices to 
suit themselves, and repudiated all their obligations to 
the public. The second wife represents the trust-folks 
after prices are regulated by the national, state, town, 
and city governments (a condition not yet realized). 
She is tempted by the evil one, but is not forgetful of 
her obligations. 

The doctor who gets the devil's goat has not yet ap- 
peared in the world drama, but he is being anxiously 
awaited. That part may be taken by org^ized women. 
The conclusion of the Social Problem Play expresses 
this hope. 



ACTS IV AND V. 

These acts form a Social Problem Play for which the 
Farce and the Comedy are an introduction and a prepa- 
ration. 

In these acts, the Devil's Bible Class represents the 
trusts in an unrestrained condition, when competition 
has ceased, and the trusts fix prices to suit themselves. 
In the old days merchants sometimes lost money by their 
competitions — fighting like McCarty's boys. In the pres- 
ent age most merchants have learned to treat their 
brother merchants as they would that other merchants 
should treat them — they have learned the Golden Rule 
— they have formed a Bible Class — they are now har- 
moniously engaged in sucking blood from the public. 



40 THE DEMON AND THE 

The prices given in these acts are higher than those 
demanded now ; but. unless the rapacity of the local 
trusts (merchants chiefly) is checked, even these prices 
may be exceeded. We have traveled fast in that direc- 
tion. 

In Act II, the devil tempts the woman. In Act IV, a 
■'good" lawyer gives "good advice" to the grocers. These 
two scenes express the same idea in dififerent ways. 

Many of the men who are part and parcel of a big 
or a little trust were once good men. and posed as good 
men even while engaged in the business of bleeding the 
public. The explanation would seem to run like this : 

Prejudice darkens the intellect, warps the judgment, 
and twists the conscience. This is why it is usually 
useless to argue with a man about his own party, his 
own church, or his own country. Also, many a man 
is prejudiced in favor of his own pocketbook. In other 
words, his pocket-nerve is abnormally developed into 
a controlling influence. 

In the old days when Competition was the life of 
trade, good business men got all the trade they could 
at the expense of their competitors. When their com- 
petitors failed, it was considered that such men had 
missed their calling, and that it was for the benefit of 
the public that those who could not sell good goods at 
cheap prices should seek some other occupation. Also, 
good business men, when they had the chance, sold 
their goods at high prices. The goods belonged to 
them, and they considered that they had the right to 
sell those goods at the highest market price. 

When the merchants, manufacturers, and railroad 
companies found that more money was to be made 
by combination than by competition, then to a very great 
extent competition ceased, and Combination became the 
life of trade. What was allowable under competitive 
conditions became a graft under trust conditions. Many 
otherwise good men in both large and small trusts failed 
to observe this distinction. They were blinded by their 
prejudices in favor of their own pocketbook. 



DARLING OF THE GODS 41 



And then, there are local trust-folks by the thousands 
who have become intoxicated with easy money — half 
devilish in their thirst for blood. 

The local trusts through their advertisements control 
the most of even those newspapers that make a specialty 
of acting as the champions of the people. When the 
local trusts see that something must be done to quiet 
the public, they then let the newspapers and local offi- 
cials make a great flourish of trumpets over some minor 
reforms that have been made as the result of their 
activities in the cause of the people ; but the great bulk 
of the grafting goes on unchecked — not even challenged. 

The big trusts controlled large amounts of money, 
the local trusts control more. The big trusts controlled 
few votes, the local trusts control many votes. The 
big trusts tried to control the national government, and 
failed; the local trusts have succeeded in controlling the 
most of the state, county and city officials in all the 
Northern States. The big trusts have been cudgelled, 
the local trusts have hardly been touched. A big stick 
scared the big trusts, a club of steel will be required 
for the local trusts. 

The power of the local trusts is tremendous. They 
can make and destroy Presidents, Governors, and ^Mayors 
— nothing but a woman will scare them. Because it is 
more widespread and insidious, the money of the local 
trusts as used in elections is more pernicious than the 
money of the big trusts has ever been accused of being. 
It is money that makes the political mare go, and these 
local trust-folks furnish most of the money. In theory, 
the officials are the servants of the people. In fact, 
the people will continue to be the servants of their own 
servants until the money that runs the nominations and 
elections is furnished by the people, and not by the local 
trusts. 

The money and political influence of the merchants 
as a class have been so unscrupulously used in the forma- 
tion and protection of local trusts that no merchant should 



42 THE DEMON AND THE 

be allowed to give or to use money to influence the po- 
litical fortune of any party, faction, or individual, or to 
influence legislation. 

If a group of merchants agree with one another to 
maintain prices, that group of merchants, whether the 
agreement is written or verbal or simply an understand- 
ing, is practically a trust; and it is here considered to be 
a local trust (a Devil's Bible Class). It is, in effect, 
a combination to eliminate competition, to maintain 
prices, and to bleed the public. 

When a trust, big or little, (that is not restrained by 
effective competition) fixes prices to suit itself, that is 
graft. The trust-folks, consciously or unconsciously, fix 
prices in their own favor. So would you if you were in 
their place. So would most people if they had the op- 
portunity. 

Roosevelt with his big stick was the originial cudgeller 
of the trusts. Taft then wielded the big stick still more 
effectively. Wilson promises to distance all competition 
in this exercise. But this cudgelling of the big trusts 
has not yet lowered the cost of living, and it offers no 
such promise for the future. If a big trust is divided, 
and each of the smaller trusts thus formed raises its 
prices, that does not lower the cost of living very much. 

There is now no law that prevents merchants and 
industrial trusts from raising prices as much as they 
please, provided there is no agreement or conspiracy. 
No agreement is necessary. The merchants and trusts 
can watch the prices of their chief competitor, and then 
make the same prices. If the national government should 
regulate the prices of the big trusts as it now regulates 
freight rates, and if the state, county, town and city gov- 
ernments should similarly regulate the local trusts, — then 
the trusts could not charge excessive prices without vio- 
lating the law- — then the cost of living would be reduced. 

General Note : — The principal idea in the production 
of this work was not the writing of a successful play, but 
the presentation of certain ideas in the most forcible way. 



DARLING OF THE GODS 



43 



The children were introduced to make the drama as 
pubHshed in book form more natural and forceful ; for 
children are important characters in the world drama. 
The appearance of children in private theatricals is not 
objectionable, but their appearance on the stage is fre- 
quently objectionable or illegal. In the stage drama, 
talking motion pictures might be used for the por- 
tions in which the appearance of children is desirable, 
and also for the introduction of additional interesting 
features. Otherwise the children's parts may be omitted, 
the company as a whole singing, at the conclusion of 
the play, "My Country, 'Tis of Thee." 

Those who wish to exercise a fanciful imagination 
may consider that Margaret (a pearl) represents the 
Philippines, and that Mary (bitter; otherwise, star of 
the sea), represents Puerto Rico. 





017 400 



